Update: Tweaked/rewritten December 2020.
Girl Bonding
Namarra cheated.
After having known her and understood her actions—not to mention her level of insanity—for the past couple of months, Eclipse should have expected the foul play, but she was so caught up in her own quest for solace, she decided to go along and ignore all the red flags. Now, as she was running through the rain on the beach—in a bikini top and shorts no less—trying to dodge both bullets and raindrops, she could only curse. "Damn you, Namarra!" She just heard the Natural's laugh and her footsteps slow as she aimed. The shot was muffled by the rainfall, but it was still an interesting sound to hear a speeding bullet cut through falling droplets and fly past her ear. Sure, she might have been hearing things, but it was a bit more nostalgic thinking of it the other way.
Wow, maybe she was turning into a masochist.
Another bullet grazed the top of her shoulder, the bare skin burning after the attack and it didn't feel any better when the warm rain melted into the wound. Cursing, she jumped over a fallen tree and veered back into the forest. "It's your turn to run, dumbass!"
"It's more fun this way!" Namarra shouted, Eclipse imagining her skipping as well because of the chipper way she said the phrase.
Ducking under some branches, Eclipse zigzagged through the trees, wincing every so often when her sprained right ankle twisted awkwardly on the uneven ground. That was a courtesy from her nice tumble down a steep hill and the deep cuts across her stomach were thanks to the bush she had landed in. She wasn't entirely sure on how injured her opponent was, but Eclipse had watched her take some less than intelligent leaps off rock faces and waterfalls. At one point the Natural had hyper extended her elbow, but Namarra didn't even seem to have registered the pain.
Eclipse's left hand reached into her pocket to pull out an extra magazine. She had two left and only one gun. Grand. She had dropped her second gun about three hours ago, approximately 18 hours into the "game." The rules of the game itself weren't what made it fall apart, more like the people playing. It was all going smoothly until Namarra got bored and decided to spruce things up by firing her gun when Eclipse had practically won. She had her pinned against a tree trunk with a knife to the back of her neck when the Natural wiggled out of her grip, reached out her finger and pulled the trigger of the gun at her waist, grazing her thigh and narrowly missing Eclipse's foot. The shot had startled her enough that Namarra got free and started shooting. Somehow, Eclipse had managed to run away unscathed and the game had been hunter vs. hunter ever since.
Feeling the top of the magazine, she wrapped two fingers around it and pulled it out of her pocket. Jumping over a downed tree, she misjudged how heavy the rain had made a low-hanging branch and took a twig against the forehead. A leaf stuck there and the magazine dropped to the ground. Cursing, she spun around, slipped on the soft earth and scrambled behind a trunk after grabbing the magazine. Swiping off the leaf, she waited and listened for Namarra's footsteps.
The Natural's feet slowed as she neared Eclipse's position. It was possible Namarra saw her duck behind the tree, but she had had a good lead thanks to the Natural's involuntary slowing to aim her gun and fire. Seeing as they had limited ammo, Namarra had to have tried at least 75 percent of the time.
Walking now, Eclipse tensed as the Natural's feet stepped by. If she was spotted—and she wasn't able to knock the gun from her hand—Eclipse would be dead before she could curse Lathan for even helping her get into ZAFT way back when and starting this whole masquerade. The redhead still had her gun, but a shooting match seemed to be getting nowhere. Hand-to-hand combat was making more progress on both exhausting them and making them take more risks, but that wasn't going to do any good if one of them could just fire a gun and say, "Too bad, so sad." Holding her breath, Eclipse reached out and grabbed Namarra's right foot as she passed, pulling it upwards to send her scrambling to the ground.
Namarra's hands hit first, the gun slapping hard into the weeds nearby and getting lost in the foliage when the Natural was forced to turn away and dodge Eclipse's combat knife. Namarra rolled across the ground, tucking her head under and getting as much distance between the two of them as she could. Eclipse chased after her for a little bit, slashing down at the human ball, but making no real contact. She jumped away, however, when Namarra unsheathed her own knife and swung it out wide, the redhead jumping over the attack and stepping a couple of feet backwards to get set for the onslaught.
Namarra scrambled to her feet, putting a hand on a boulder and pushing herself up slowly. "Now, who's gonna win this round?"
"We're been at this for hours, are we done yet?" Eclipse asked, fiddling with the magazine in her hand before finally deciding on sticking it back into her pocket.
The Natural, however, had other plans. She smirked and whipped her free hand at Eclipse—slightly occupied with putting away the magazine—sending a fair-sized stick speeding towards her face. Eclipse brought her arm up to block it, dropped the magazine and spun at the same time. The stick bounced off her left forearm and to the side. With the knife still in her hand, Eclipse brought the blade up across her left side and lower back. Knowing Namarra to be someone to go through with her threats, Eclipse figured she'd aim for a killing blow.
Or at least something to put her in a lot of pain.
As anticipated, Namarra's knife jab to Eclipse's side scraped off the metal of her own weapon, leaving the Natural vulnerable. Eclipse finished her spin and brought her right elbow down on Namarra's back.
Or so she had planned.
For a split second she hesitated. There on the Natural's back were bruises, a lot of bruises. Knowing how much face-to-face time the two of them have been giving each other, she would have expected those wounds to be her fault, but they were a yellow-brown color still with the deep purple and blue in the middle. They were older than just a couple of hours ago, but still severe enough to leave lasting welts. That's strange.
Namarra didn't notice any of it, probably figuring Eclipse got hung up on some of Mother Nature's debris. She would have avoided the attack anyway, having collapsed instantly to the ground when her jab was parried. The dead weight and gravity pulled her quickly to the dirt so she could dodge the attack and throw her opponent off balance. Eclipse fumbled after the miss, spinning on wet grass not working as well as she had thought. Namarra rolled onto her side then and swiped her feet out in a half circle, sending Eclipse stumbling onto the forest floor.
Eclipse did the one thing she was always taught never to do when she was falling: try and catch herself. She jammed her fingers on a tree trunk and when she tried to bring her other arm across, the wet and rotten bark slipped off, forcing her to the ground in a less than advantageous way next to the fallen Natural.
Having flipped over onto her back, Namarra kicked out and hit Eclipse's stomach. The redhead buckled in pain, but was determined to keep the Natural from lashing out again. Bringing up her knife, she set it at her stomach and watched with a sadistic smile as the Natural took the blade through the shoe and into her right heel. The knife didn't go in too far, but it was enough to issue a small, painful yelp from her lips. Namarra's foot bounced backward and she turned into another roll, leaving Eclipse lying with the bloody-tipped knife.
"Shit, what d'ya do that for?" Namarra cursed, twisting and getting to her feet in one fluid motion. She tried putting weight on the heel but cursed, Eclipse watching her face contort in restrained discomfort.
Eclipse got to her feet too, trying to regain her lost breath and squeeze out her own pain, but the hand grabbing the skin around her stomach wasn't enough. Eclipse had been very confident in her hand-to-hand combat until Namarra had been her opponent. Now she was exhausted and had more bruises than bones in her body.
And she was lucky none of them were broken.
"Why are you bruised so badly?"
"What d'ya mean? We've been at this for nearly twenty hours. If I'm not bruised," she spit off to the side, "it means you suck at this."
"There're some older marks on your back. What happened?" Eclipse spit as well, wiping the painful drool and bile mixture from her mouth.
"Why do you care?"
"Namarra—"
"Ready for round two?" she asked quickly, interrupting the girl talk and going right back to what most likely made her a bit more comfortable. Fighting was such a simple, emotional bullet train. Stomping her heel against a tree root one more time, she looked up and smiled, having gotten used to the pain.
Eclipse spit again and watched her carefully. The redhead had to admit she was having fun, the adrenaline racing through her drowned out the frustrations and the heartbreak she had been receiving from her welcome back home. In fact, the fight was a gracious relief, allowing her to vent her anger at the world and everything else while still staying within the bounds of legality. Well, for the most part. But Namarra's actions were still suspicious. If she had wanted her dead, she could have done it a long time ago. Hell, they could have destroyed each other five times over by that point, but it was almost as if neither of them was trying to. They were both venting, she could tell, but Eclipse had no idea why. What was going on in that Natural's head?
The redhead spit one last time for good measure and wiped her mouth before giving Namarra a reply. "That was only round one?"
The Natural smirked and reached down to the front of her waistband, pulling out .45 caliber handgun and making Eclipse wonder how she had managed to run around for so long with that scrunched—well—there. "Wait for it," she said, checking the magazine. "Wait for it."
Eclipse's knife hand tensed as the Natural aimed the gun.
"Ding!"
Namarra could have claimed Eclipse cheated then, because she had thrown the knife before the Natural had even started saying the word, "ding." Call it payback. The knife didn't penetrate the weapon, but the metals scraped against each other, the high-pitched screech drowned out by the low rumbling of a coming storm. The blade tumbled then, spinning in the air end over end after the ricochet and heading toward Namarra's bare shoulder. Cursing, she pulled out of the way and fired at the same time, probably hoping the bullet would distract Eclipse enough that she would stumble during her charge. Eclipse did stumble, but it was more for her advantage. Ducking low, she dove into Namarra's stomach, the force taking them both violently to the ground.
Namarra landed back against another tree root, her spine bending awkwardly across the jutting wood. Eclipse, however, didn't come out unscathed either, her knuckles scraping against the bark and rugged knots. That stumble hadn't given her body enough leverage to pull away from the tackle in time, leaving them both injured in the lunge. Grand. Cursing, she left some skin on the bark and pulled her hands free just in time to throw up a forearm to block the Natural's swinging right.
Namarra's fingers cracked as they made contact with Eclipse's right arm, but not the bad kind of crackling, more like it was a much needed relief for the cramped fingers. In fact, Eclipse would have waited for a thank you if she wasn't in the middle of a counterattack. Swinging her left arm across her body, her bloody knuckles scraped across Namarra's lower jaw, her blood and jagged skin probably doing more damage than the punch itself. Namarra had absorbed the blow, arching her back even more across the root and moving her head with the attack, coming away with nothing more than a weak metallic taste across her tongue. The move had also given her a little more leverage. Eclipse's equilibrium was thrown off, forcing her to try and clamp her knees harder against the pinned Natural's sides, but it wasn't so simple. Namarra had hoisted up her knees at the same time and cradled them between the redhead's legs. Bracing her arms on the ground, she hoisted Eclipse up and over her head, sending her tumbling a couple feet behind her.
Eclipse recovered quickly, however, somehow managing to duck into an awkward roll to absorb the throw and get her back onto her feet. Up before her opponent, she didn't miss the opportunity to possibly end the game. Bracing herself, she did a roundhouse kick to Namarra's side as she was getting up, anticipating her movements a bit better than the Natural had figured. Or not. Damn, this is fun and all but—damn! the redhead thought. Namarra smirked and brought both hands up to block the kick, Eclipse cursing when she saw the unmistakable flash of the handgun still in the Natural's grip.
Pushing the kick out wide, Namarra swung up the gun and shot, aiming in Eclipse's general direction, but not having enough time to go for the instant kill. Eclipse grabbed the barrel of the gun as it fired, feeling the rush of the bullet both as it left the gun and when it grazed past her left ear. She also felt the slide as it automatically moved backwards to reload and the unmistakable pain of pinched skin between the metals. The blood was instant in her left palm, but the pinch was still too tight for her to just wiggle free without tearing a huge chunk of skin from her hand. Pulling the gun forward—deciding to take advantage of the situation and dislodging her palm at the same time—she tensed to give another punch, but ended up cursing when Namarra's forehead met her own. She must have been too distracted to aim the headbutt because typically the target was the nose, but the surprise attack was enough to make Eclipse stagger; however, not enough to let go of the gun. They both fell to their knees, dazed.
Namarra recovered first—the blow giving her a nice migraine, but she had braced herself better than her opponent—and tried dislodging Eclipse's gel-like grip. Nothing worked, the skin tearing with each shake, but was never completely torn away. Namarra finally managed to steady the gun on her chest, Eclipse's hand and dead weight not allowing her a perfect head shot.
Her finger pulled the trigger.
Bang.
Namarra was more than impressed by Eclipse's reflexes, having averted the shot at the last second up and away from her body. She had yanked her pinched skin from the slide before the gun went off, the chunk of flesh dropping to the ground on a patch of dirt, a pale peach color against the black earth. The exposed muscle now grasping the bottom of the barrel, Namarra watched a trail of blood streak down her arm, following the red stream until she made contact with faded grey eyes. Namarra let out an excited laugh.
"Final round," the Berserker hissed.
"I can't believe we're letting Gluttony pilot," Phoebe moaned, strapped to the chair and keeping pressure on a gunshot wound to her upper arm. The bullet had been pulled out not five minutes ago and was actually floating around somewhere in the shuttle, but the wound in her upper thigh still held its unwanted gift.
Melanie was pressing a cloth to that one, one hand reaching up and bracing herself on the ceiling so she could keep herself steady. "He's the only one healthy enough to."
"More like the only one able to use both hands," FS muttered, fixing the bandage around his palm. "Melanie, tell me how you came out unscathed?"
"I was the one to set up the explosives," she replied, sounding so nonchalant the others wanted to slap the cocky look off her face. "We're lucky to get out alive because of me."
FS and Stray exchanged glances, biting their tongues because they knew arguing would only make things worse. Yes, Melanie was the one to find the hand grenades near the last shuttle and, if it wasn't for their awesome coverage, she and the explosives would have—well—exploded. So, the three of them took all the damage while Melanie got to play grenade launcher.
"Lucky bitch," Phoebe muttered, wincing when Melanie added some extra pressure to her leg.
FS sighed and shook his head, massaging his forehead with his free hand. His whole organization was gone. He had fled them in an utter panic, more worried about his own skin than the better good of SIN-ED; or whatever was left of it. His ignorance made him sick. Missing something as simple as the drug supply? It was such a juvenile mistake. He was so blind.
"Revelin, where are we going?" Stray asked, flipping a few levers above his head. When he didn't reply, FS felt Stray's glare turn his way. He didn't want to respond after that look. "Revelin, I have to know where we're going."
"Give me a sec."
"Where can we go?" Melanie asked.
"Does Hell count?" Phoebe retorted.
"Speak for yourself," her sister muttered.
"What was that?"
FS was going to yell at them, but their arguing was giving him a little time to think about their destination.
"Revelin."
"Do we have atmospheric entrance gear?"
Stray shook his head, frowning. "No."
"Stuck in space then?" The pilot nodded and FS started massaging his forehead again. There was only one place he could think they could go, but his headache grew at the thought of it. ZAFT was rumored to have been watching the Mendel Colony since Eclipse and the rest of her team had investigated all those months ago. If they were keeping tabs, the security had most likely gotten lighter over the months—given the war effort—but it would be the easiest spot for them to be found.
"Mendel?" Stray suggested, the look in his eyes proving he was thinking the same thing as his friend. Not wanting the girls to hear, his lips moved with the words, "Do we have a choice?" FS didn't respond verbally, but he mouthed his own curse and looked back down at the controls on the console in front of him.
Phoebe and Melanie continued their bickering, probably trying to blow off their frustration by using their blood relation as some kind of masking device. Out of all the other ways they could blow off steam and agitation, FS was thankful they chose the less bloody and more clothed of the options.
FS vaguely listened, the noise like the white snow of the broken television they had back on Earth. They had no idea if ZAFT would be there when they arrived and, in the condition they were in, they would make one poor attempt at defending themselves. Three of them were unable to walk—Stray was hit in the foot—and even though they all had at least one good arm to shoot with, it only meant they could aim and fire while backed in a corner. Great, they could be an immobile army stuck with their asses to a wall and an array of machine guns peppering them with bullets.
"How are our rations on this shuttle?"
"Non-existent," Stray replied, his mouth twitching as his frown sank even more. He looked annoyed, his eyes narrowing to match his lips. "You're avoiding the issue."
"We'd be walking—no, limping to our deaths."
"Yes, because we're in such a better situation here."
They stared at each other. What else could they do? Stray was making sense and so was FS. Both on different levels, and yet both valid points. Shit. Phoebe and Melanie had stopped their bickering and were watched them, Phoebe shifting her shoulders so she could see them all comfortably. And there they all sat, exchanging glances in silence. Each Sin had his or her own opinion, but they all had to agree on something. The question was, what?
With the engine off, they stared in a deafening silence, the adrenaline slowly leaving their bodies and their eyes getting heavy. As soon as they had reached the shuttle, they took off, no questions asked and no time taken to see if anyone else wanted to join. They had all been on a paranoid kind of sleepwalking ever since, their brains and limbs working, but not exactly in a healthy way. The biggest problem then, however, was the fact that they had to figure out what they were going to do before they all fell asleep. The last thing they needed was to be drifting aimlessly with all them bleeding out.
"H…is so…there?" The radio brought them back, their heads all jerking at the same time as if it was the magic word to break them out of their hypnotized trance. FS and Stray exchanged glances. "Any…all?"
Turning to Melanie and Phoebe, they finally all agreed on one thing and nodded. Stray brought the mic up to his mouth. "Depends on who's asking."
The Berserker stretched forward, grabbing the front Namarra's bikini and pulling the surprised Natural down into her waiting fist. Eclipse swung her right hand hard, connecting with Namarra's left cheek and sending her tumbling to the side. Not wasting another opportunity, the Berserker twisted her opponent's gun hand, bending it awkwardly backwards and putting a knee into Namarra's stomach. The Natural's mouth opened in a scream, but the breath was pushed out of her, the shriek becoming a silent cry as Eclipse's weight most likely bruised more than a couple of ribs.
"Now who's having fun?" Eclipse asked, leaning close to Namarra's face and smiling at her pain-filled eyes. An involuntary tear trickled from the corner of her right eye and the Berserker smirked, bending closer. Parting her lips, she paused a moment over the tear and glanced sideways at Namarra's suspicious—but surprisingly scared—gaze and felt herself smile, her hot breath blowing against the moist skin. The tear continued its trail down the side of her face, but Eclipse caught it before it left the Natural's cheek, licking her tongue over the salty surface. Namarra tried to pull away and bring up her free hand, but the Berserker tightened her grip on the Natural's wrist, stopping just before she knew the bone was going to snap and cut through her skin. The other hand she pinned to the ground with her elbow and forearm, the bone crunching into Namarra's bicep.
Leaning back again, Eclipse let out a quick chuckle when she saw Namarra's contorted face, and laughed even more when she saw the blood streak left by her tongue on her opponent's cheek. Apparently, that headbutt had done more than just made her dizzy. Swallowing, Eclipse felt the hot blood slipping down her throat and smacked her lips a couple of times to enjoy the metallic taste. "Why don't you scream for me?" she asked, jabbing her knee harder into Namarra's gut. The Natural cringed in pain, but still remained silent. Now glaring at the Berserker, she didn't the only thing she was able to and spit in her face.
The saliva trickled down Eclipse's cheek, her smirk flipping into a frown as her shoulder shrugged upwards to wipe it off. "Cute." Namarra's eyes narrowed, but soon closed in pain again when the Berserker shifted her weight lower onto her abdomen. How Eclipse had missed that look over the past weeks. It was nice to be able to fight without any boundaries again; almost as if it were old times when she was taking out SIN-ED members and no one gave a damn.
Yes, just like the time she had been called a monster.
Bringing back her right hand, she punched down at the pinned Natural. Namarra brought her newly freed arm up to block, a deep laugh screeching from her throat as Eclipse beat her fist into the defenseless soldier. Laughter wasn't exactly a response the Berserker had anticipated. Eclipse stopped her assault after nearly eight punches, feeling the Natural's blood trickling down her fingers and onto the forest floor. Namarra pulled down her arm then, a fresh cut across her brow dribbling across her forehead and into the crease above her eyes.
Her Berserker eyes.
"It's about time we got serious. How about we even the odds?" Namarra asked, her eye twitching when the blood got dangerously close to the corner.
"This is going to be nothing more than a cat fight," Eclipse muttered, her hand still twisting Namarra's wrist back awkwardly. She bent it even more to prove a point, but the Natural didn't seem to care. In fact, she didn't even seem to notice.
"And what Berserker doesn't enjoy that?" Namarra asked, smiling with the tip of her bloodied tongue sticking through her teeth. A nice set of bite marks were set across that tongue, making the grin nothing more than a childish attempt to piss her off. Well, it worked and Eclipse's sense of boredom from the all-out bitch fight turned to an adrenaline-induced wonderment. She found her Berserker half did enjoy the prospect of a cat fight in any definition of the term.
Namarra attacked first, pulling her free arm across Eclipse's body to try and rake her with her nails. It was definitely a feral attack and Eclipse almost laughed from the impulsiveness of it all. At least she would have if her attempt to dodge was enough to pull her away entirely. Namarra snagged the bathing suit top as she passed, pulling Eclipse down and to the side. The grip and pin loosened after that. It shouldn't have been that easy to bring down the Berserker, but Namarra had pushed upward with her injured wrist, amazingly not forcing the bone to snap and break through the skin. Thanks to the Berserker gene, however, pain was rarely an issue when the only thing on the mind was primal pleasure.
Eclipse tucked into a roll, forcing her body to keep going instead of getting stuck under the Natural's pin and have a repeat of the last time. It wasn't an easy task, but after some fierce elbows to Namarra's ribs and neck—while getting her own facial treatment from her counterpart—she managed to roll away and up on her feet. The Natural did the same after a quick recovery and they were both back to square one.
Eclipse had one knife left in her left hand—one of the smaller combat knives she could grab—but she was lucky to have any kind of weaponry at all. Her empty gun had been dropped—or thrown—sometime in the excursion, but she still had one magazine left. A lot of good that would do if she didn't have a gun to put it in.
Or, she might end up getting creative.
Namarra seemed to be in the same boat weapon wise, most likely having only one knife left and possibly another gun. Eclipse wasn't entirely sure what she had, but even though the Natural enjoyed a good fist fight every once and a while, she knew Namarra loved her firearms. Eclipse probably grabbed more knives and ammo, but Namarra most likely grabbed more guns and planned on throwing them away when they ran out of ammo.
Damn, that island was going to be one weaponry junk house as soon as they were through with it.
For the next moment or so, they stared at each other. Namarra was rubbing her wrist and Eclipse was fixing her bikini top. Her Berserker half had given her the luxury of not caring about her appearance, but she felt she should give her upper body a little sense of support. The last thing she needed was to be free—and with no body armor, for that matter—while running around an isolated island dodging bullets. Not to mention she might get a bit chilly in the cool, damp air. At any rate, the whole thing was rather humorous. Two Berserkers worrying about the minor hiccups in life and not about the bigger picture.
Like killing each other.
Eclipse made the first move that time. Reaching into her left pocket, she felt the top of her remaining magazine. Namarra watched her actions, her stare shifting back and forth from Eclipse's hands to her eyes, trying to figure out what she was up to. Pushing down on the top of the magazine, Eclipse slipped out one bullet, and then two more when she saw the Natural's pupiless eyes narrow. One bullet just wasn't going to be enough of a diversion.
"I know what you're up to and it won't work," Namarra said, her injured hand moving to her forehead to wipe away the trickling blood before it got too close to her eyes and distracted her. Pulling the limp hand down the line of her face, a blood trail streaked from the wound, to her cheek, and then stopped at her chin. Her arm dropped to her side afterwards dangling back and forth like a puppet without its strings.
"Well, seeing as we're genetically built the same, I wouldn't be surprised if our primal instincts acted similar."
Waiting an extra second—hoping to catch her by surprise—Eclipse gripped one of the bullets as best she could and threw it at her Berserker counterpart. Namarra dodged as expected, her sidestep to the left looking far more graceful than a tired and injured soldier should be able to pull off. Her shoulder ducked low, her knees bending and her body weight shifting forward onto the balls of her feet. Crouching down slightly, she leaped forward and towards Eclipse.
Eclipse threw one more bullet—adding to the diversion—and braced for the close quarters combat after the Natural dodged. She had expected as much, knowing her Berserker half couldn't stand a gun fight unless it involved overkilling with machine guns or sniper rifles. Besides, Berserker vs. Berserker made her blood freeze and boil at the same time, an interesting combination when she could feel her face overheat with excitement as a shiver traveled from the tip of her neck straight down her spine.
Namarra jabbed her knife at Eclipse's right arm, hoping to keep her from throwing—or even make her drop—the last bullet hiding between her fingers. Eclipse dodged by stepping backwards and turning sideways, the knife going safely through air instead of flesh as intended. Namarra had other things in mind, however, when she attacked that side. Her body bent downward with the thrust and while Eclipse was distracted, the Natural reached around with her left hand to grab Eclipse's knife. Her fingers wrapped around the blade just where it met the hilt and pulled, kicking backward at Eclipse's knees at the same time so she had to choose between dodging and her last bit of weaponry. To Namarra's surprise, Eclipse chose both. Turning her feet to the side, she squatted slightly and forced her knees out wide, her weight balanced on her toes and her heels up in the air like some bad ballerina pose. Namarra's kick went right through the middle. It was an awkward move, but effective for the most part. Before the Natural could pull her foot back through, Eclipse closed her knees, Namarra's ankle caught between her legs. Eclipse went with the flow, falling down backwards and pulling the knife at the same time. Namarra went down too—releasing the knife instantly—but was able to stay upright by doing the splits when Eclipse let go of her ankle. Rolling backwards, Eclipse used her hands to hoist herself back up to her feet. Namarra regained her footing as well, shaking off the blood flowing from the cut in her palm and immediately starting up the attack once more.
Eclipse kept the knife in her left hand as she parried Namarra's attack, the bullet still lingering between her right fingers and the tip starting to cut into the soft skin at the base of her knuckles. It was more annoying than anything, but the Berserker didn't want to just drop the bullet. Given, at that time she really didn't know what she was going to use it for, but she was sure her primal instincts would come up with something.
Namarra spun on the balls of her feet, side slashing at Eclipse and laughing when every attack either ended with a parry or a dodge. They were getting nowhere but, damn, it was fun.
Eclipse was having much the same problem, a slash at Namarra's neck turning into a duck and low kick at Eclipse's ankles. She jumped over the attack, but didn't expect both of the Natural's feet to swipe by like upside-down helicopter blades, so when gravity brought her back to the ground, she ended up getting tripped anyway. Falling down onto her butt, her body braced for the leaping tackle, but it never came. Instead, a knife flew in her direction, the blade slicing the side of her neck and sticking upright behind her in the dirt, now turning to mud thanks to the increased rainfall and squall overhead. The wound wasn't terrible, but it still pissed her off, knowing Namarra had gotten that close to killing her and she could do nothing but sit on her ass.
Namarra loomed over her as she sat in the mud, smirking and unsheathing the last knife from the back waistband of her shorts. Damn, no wonder she wanted to have a "grab what you can" game because she could pack a lot of weaponry. She smiled and Eclipse cursed. "Stop laughing!" She stabbed the nearest foot, but Namarra hopped away.
So cocky.
Reaching up and over, she snagged the piece of her skin on the dirt and threw it up with the bullet at the Natural's face. Some mud went with the flesh-bullet combo and while the mud made a nice splatter pattern on her forehead cut, the flesh hit her right eye and the bullet her upper cheekbone. The attack startled her, Namarra forced to step back and recover. Eclipse took advantage of the opportunity and—while avoiding the panicked attacks—got around behind her, putting her blade at the Natural's throat and twisting the knife out of her hand. Eclipse's blade sunk into her neck, cutting Namarra's skin, but the Berserker had to wait for the right moment to pull the knife across. She had to wait for that perfect moment when the blade grazed the tendons and arteries so that when she sliced across the throat, it would be a killing blow, not just a maiming one. Her tongue ran across her lips as she pushed, and her teeth opened in a sadistic smile when she knew the moment was close enough. Her strength would make it a killing stroke even if she didn't exactly reach the distance. Tensing, she pulled.
But stopped.
Blinking, she shook her head and let the blade fade forward as the feral need drained from her mind. She had almost killed Namarra.
"Enough," she breathed into her ear instead, the adrenaline still high in her system, but the fatigue starting to show through once she had regained some control of her mind. No two enemies should have been fighting and running for almost twenty hours straight. It seemed like bloodlust overload.
"We're not done until one of us is dead," Namarra responded, her breathing coming ragged through her open lips. Eclipse figured it was because of the cut across her neck, but she didn't want to assume and then let her guard down. She was still berserk after all and had a tendency to do the unexpected. "Go ahead and kill me if you want to be done."
"Namarra—" Eclipse started, but never finished. The Natural grabbed the knife—managing to get more of the hilt this time—and pulled it forward. Eclipse's hand went with it and it wasn't until too late she understood what was going on. "Fu—" she started and tried pulling away, but she wasn't quick enough. Namarra put the side of Eclipse's knife hand in front of her mouth and bit down hard on the wrist.
Her jaws sank through the soft skin, both rows of teeth penetrating between the two bones and sinking deeper and deeper, but it wasn't until Namarra ground those teeth back and forth across the flesh that she felt and tasted the warm blood in her mouth. The movement was probably overkill, but the Natural couldn't resist indulging her Berserker side even a little bit.
Numbing pain shot up through Eclipse's forearm and into the shoulder, her entire body going limp from shock. It had to have been a pretty bad wound if the Berserker couldn't even block it out.
Knowing she was stunned, Namarra took the advantage, shaking loose of the hold and driving an elbow into Eclipse's stomach. To finish the attack, she swung her right arm around and punched her jaw, sending Eclipse to the ground. "Aw, you missed your chance," she cooed, spitting a couple of times to get the blood out of her mouth. "Since when does a Berserker hesitate at the kill?" Eclipse had every intention of replying, but her body had other things in mind. Turning to the side, she dry heaved, having nothing in her stomach worth throwing up. "How pathetic," Namarra said, walking over and winding up for another kick to her side. Eclipse rolled a couple of times after the blow, still trying to get her breath back. "Don't tell me this is the pathetic way you die? In your own bile?"
Eclipse turned her head upwards and matched Namarra's glare, the two pupiless eyes locking stares. The fight in Eclipse was far from gone and they both new it, but looking at each other then, they saw something else: excitement. They were having fun. Every time someone had seen their eyes, he or she was terrified and screamed in a futile attempt to mask the piss draining between their legs. Eclipse and Namarra, however, were not only able to match the glares, but they couldn't help laughing, a chuckle escaping Eclipse's lips first. It was all so ironic. The only other person to accept their monstrous half was a person with the same sleeping demon inside of her. Namarra joined the laughter and soon they both collapsed to their knees in maniacal amusement. It was all so insane.
But neither of them had ever felt so alive and accepted until that moment.
"I'd say I believe it's you, Wrath, but I really can't understand a single word you're saying," FS said, taking the radio away from Stray after a couple of failed attempts to make some clear contact with the other end.
"Come…Mendel…gone."
"There's no way we're going there just because you say it's safe."
"Fu…you…Pride," the radio stuttered, FS rolling his eyes. He would have admitted he knew that to be Wrath just by the how foul his mouth was and how he was the only one who seemed to have enough balls to speak to him that way. He kept the observation to himself, however, and gave up the mic when Melanie took it from his hands. If there was anyone to get his attention, it was one of the Lust twins. After all, they had connections with the other SIN-ED members he didn't even want to know about let alone replicate.
"This is Lust."
"Mel…ie?"
"Prove to me you're Wrath."
"Last month…ogie-style…seven…asms."
Melanie seemed to think about it for a second and the others just cocked an eyebrow. They understood the gist of that and leave it to Wrath and Lust to come up with that kind of proof for identification. "Wrath was never one to keep his tongue tied. He probably bragged about that minutes after he ducked out."
"Glutt…two mon…thong."
The attention was on Stray now and he leaned back and thought about the response much like Melanie had done. FS felt he was a bit calmer than he should have been in such a revealing situation, but he shouldn't have expected anything less from his eccentric friend.
Stray stroked his chin for a few seconds, nodding to himself every once and a while and counting off his fingers as if trying to decide on exactly how long ago any of that had happened. "Color?" he asked.
"G-string."
Funny how that was the only phrase to come through clearly.
Stray turned to FS and Melanie and nodded. "Yup, that's Wrath."
FS sighed and Melanie gave a small giggle before returning to her sister who was trying to cover up her hysterical laughter. FS took the mic back before any more secrets slipped out. "We'll rendezvous before we land in Mendel. If we see any signs of ZAFT we'll run."
"Rog…hat."
Stray started the engines once the communication ended, changing directions to start heading to the L4 colony cluster. FS watched him suspiciously, noticing that he was now humming quietly to himself. He also had a bouncy—almost perky—look to his movements, as if he was dancing in his head. To what music and for what end FS really didn't want to know.
Stray turned to him after a couple of moments, blinking innocently and cocking his head to the side. "Problem?"
FS sighed.
"To be honest, I thought you'd be dead by now."
"Oh ye of little faith," Eclipse replied, falling back against a tree and putting pressure on her injured wrist. She was still berserk, but she could feel her genes slowly going back to their dormant state. Even a Berserker had to feel some kind of exhaustion. "I can hold my own, y'know."
"I figured as much—well, hoped for that matter because I didn't want this to be a boring waste of my time."
"You really don't think I'm strong, do you?"
Namarra shrugged as she fell back against a tree trunk across the way. She was still snapped as well, but no doubt her berserk edge was fading too. "It's not that I don't think you're strong—in fact I have a much higher level of respect for you now—but it just surprised me to see another Berserker, let alone someone who doesn't fight the same way I do."
"What, you mean someone who doesn't cheat?"
"Actually, yes," she admitted, reaching up to test the blood flow on her neck. Pulling back her hand to see the damage, she continued. "But even if you really didn't cheat—we won't talk about the incident with round two—I can tell you still hold the same bloodlust as me. I was just surprised you didn't kill me before, especially since you were berserk."
"I guess I didn't want to kill someone just like me." Eclipse shrugged and then cringed when her ribs throbbed with the movement. She had to catch her breath before she could explain more. "I will admit we are different for other reasons as well. For example, I seem to prefer close quarter combat while you like using your firearms."
"Depends on the circumstances. I'll kill someone with my teeth or even a flying fork if I have to."
That brought a small smile to her lips and she held up her wrist for proof. "Maybe Berserkers are just resourceful and it has nothing to do with preferences."
Namarra shrugged and ended up doing the same thing as the redhead had done seconds before, cringe in pain. "I really have no idea. I don't know much about this—what shall we call it—phenomenon?" She made it like a question, but Eclipse really didn't have a better term suggestion so she continued. "I just know it happens either when I'm terribly pissed or when I'm unusually sad."
"Same here."
They both faded into silence then, the two of them probably trying to figure out how badly their bodies were injured. If they were able to move within the next couple of minutes their fight would most likely start up again, but with their Berserker halves fading away and their pain tolerance slowly slipping, Eclipse doubted either of them wanted to move let alone start throwing punches.
Namarra finally broke the silence after their eyes had faded back to normal. "Y'know what, my back really hurts."
"That's what happens when you jump down a waterfall with your ass first."
"I slipped and you pinning me over that tree root really didn't help."
"Sorry, I wasn't trained as a chiropractor."
Namarra smiled and then paused, holding up a finger but then cursing when it ended up being the pointer on her sprained wrist. "This doesn't leave the island. Me jumping off the semi-miniature waterfall that is. What happens here stays here."
"Good, because I think I missed the bush on my last bathroom break."
Namarra paused again. "You mean my shots were so good you didn't need a bathroom break, right?"
"Like you said, nothing leaves the island."
There was another second of silence before they both broke down in laughter. They were pretty sure it had something to do with sleep deprivation, and the fact that everything hurt so much it was past the crying stage and onto the giddy laughter. It felt good. Well, the first couple of seconds felt good.
"Ah, my back!"
"Ah, my eye!"
"What happened to your eye?"
"There was a piece of bark sticking out!"
They laughed again, both falling down onto their sides and clutching their stomachs.
"I'm so hungry!"
"I saw some fish under the waterfall."
"You wouldn't want to go get some, would you?"
"Hell no."
They paused as they rolled onto their backs, staring at the little bits of sky they could actually see. Only moments ago it seemed as if the island was in the middle of some huge storm, but now the clouds were clearing and neither of them knew where the time had gone. It almost seemed nostalgic, two friends—well, people—watching the moving clouds, throbbing in pain. Yes, very memorable.
"Can we have a truce now?" Eclipse asked, now picking at the naked muscle on her left hand. Reaching down to her boots she untied the left one and took off her sock, wrapping the cloth around her hand and then doing the same thing for her bloodied wrist. "Or at least a ceasefire?"
"I was hoping for that ten minutes ago."
"What, as soon as you didn't kill me, you wanted to give up? You started this charade."
Namarra sighed, shaking her head. Eyes shifting to the forest floor, she grabbed her sprained wrist and tried twisting it around to see how much movement she had. "I guess I'm like you then; can't ignore a direct order. However," she continued, "I tweaked things to amuse my inner child—or sadist, in this case."
"What was your original order then?"
"To capture you."
"How cliché."
"You have no idea," she responded. "Thus, my reasons for the game. Besides, he never specified if he wanted you breathing. Just said, 'Bring her body to me.' Which, considering his personality, is kind of creepy for him to say."
"I feel so honored to be singled out."
Namarra laughed. "I don't think 'honored' is the right word. More like nauseous."
"So, who's the 'he?'"
She hesitated a moment. Eclipse couldn't tell if she was considering her loyalties or her head had gotten knocked around so much she had completely forgotten his name. "He's Muruta Azrael, leader of Blue Cosmos."
"Blue Cosmos?"
The Natural nodded. "I don't really know who gave him the authority to boss me around, but the guys and I have been following his command for the past—oh, I dunno. It's been a long time."
"I take it the guys are the other three soldiers I always see you with?" Her only response was a weak smile and then her eyes went instantly to the ground, Eclipse seeing them fade dark like some terrible memory. That made her gulp. Anything that could make Namarra feel like that had to be bad. "What happened?" It was a simple question, but the answer seemed stuck in the Natural's mouth. "I can't help you if you don't talk to me."
"Help? Since when did you want to help me?"
"Namarra."
The Natural still stared at her feet, her hands now picking apart a twig she had found on the ground. She looked so young, Eclipse never noticing before because she had seemed so superior when they were fighting. Actually, she didn't even know her age. Never bothered to ask.
"Namarra, you can trust me. What happened?"
"Whatever that's worth when a Berserker says it," she replied, looking up shyly with a small smile. Eclipse didn't return the look and finally she sighed. "More like what's happening. The past few weeks have been," she paused, trying to find the right word, "interesting. They don't interact with me anymore or when they do, it always ends in a fist fight. We're even sleeping on different ends of the complex now."
"That explains the bruises."
"No, it explains shit," she spat. "It's as if suddenly I've become a diseased rat to them and they let me know at any second they can. It's just so—so—" She stopped, snapping a twig in half and—defeated—dropping it to the ground. "It's stupid."
"So, you don't know what's going on?"
"No."
Eclipse just nodded. What could she say? She knew how it felt to lose people close to her, but the attachment those four seemed to have surpassed what she had had with FS and Stray. In fact, after the display near Carpentaria, Eclipse envied Namarra. She had what she had wanted.
"Honestly, I'm scared to go back. Shani almost strangled me the other day."
Eclipse didn't remember seeing any marks around the Natural's neck, but after seeing the bruises, she didn't doubt they could still be there. But Shani of all people? Hadn't he been the one to calm her down that night at the movie theater? If Namarra was right and they were changing, those were some drastic personality shifts. What the hell could they be doing? Slowly, Eclipse traced the healing marks around her own neck. What was going on? Suddenly, the war seemed small compared to what might be happening behind the curtain. "So, what're you gonna do? I've never known you to give up."
"I may not have a choice. I rarely see the guys anymore and Azrael keeps me so busy with medical visits and simulation training there's no way I can look into it. So—maybe—leaving for a while will give me a chance to help them?"
Eclipse could tell she was baiting her into making some kind therapeutic answer, but she didn't have much to say. That was the decision she had come to when she had wanted to save FS and Stray, but that had yet to even come close to working. In fact, it probably worked worse than it would have if she had stayed by their sides. Finally, she sighed. "Namarra, I can't tell you what to do. In fact, I don't know what you can do. If you want help with looking into the matter, I'll be willing to give you that assistance, but we can do that easily through messages. I will, however," she added when she saw Namarra's lips begin to fall into a frown, "invite you to stay in Orb."
"Orb? Why would I want to stay there?"
"We're pretty much a mob of misfits and they'd never turn you away."
"Never?" She cocked an eyebrow, a bit skeptical now. "Do they know you're a Berserker?"
"No, but I doubt it'd matter."
"Only because you have connections, right? I heard rumors of a certain governmental family member returning home. That isn't you by chance, is it? Been moonlighting as a Berserker assassin lately?"
Seeing her point, Eclipse didn't reply immediately. Knowing that her family heritage was probably why she wasn't attacked on the spot as soon as she entered the country, she couldn't blame her for the speculation. So, what would they do to Namarra? Yes, she was an Earth Forces soldier—for the most part—and after all, the Archangel was docked there as well so there shouldn't be too much of a problem. But none of that even mattered, because Eclipse knew something else as well. "What choice do you have?"
Bringing her hand up, Namarra scratched the back of her head, pulling her fingers down to rub her neck. "Well—"
"Don't feel pressured to answer now." Eclipse cut her off, holing up a hand. "It's not an easy decision to make."
"I'll do it."
"Huh?"
"I'll come back to Orb. They have good technology and if you'll help me, I should be fine."
"Namarra—" She stopped, thinking the Natural was being too impulsive, but knowing that if she kept the conversation going, she would only get angry and probably end up following through with her rasher options. Yes, she was frustrated with her quick decision, but she'd have to wait for another moment to get her to think it through more. Like when her fingers weren't tracing a bruise around her neck and her eyes weren't fading away, lost in some reality-based nightmare. "For now, that's fine. So, should we at least make a fire or something? I mean, it's dark and we're starved."
"I don't want to move."
Eclipse opened up her mouth to argue, but thought about it for a second. "Y'know what? Me neither."
"No fire then. I'm going to bed."
"I hope some wild animal eats you."
"I saw some maggots over by your tree earlier."
"Love you too." Eclipse turned her head and closed her eyes, happy their bickering fest was far from over. After all the serious talk, it was nice to know some things would never change.
Even though her eyes were closed, the redhead couldn't fall asleep. Her body throbbed like she was just stuck through a meat grinder and then put back together with duct tape. It wasn't a great feeling and particularly sticky. After all the rain, she had hoped the sweat would be washed away, but she was just as grimy as after any other battle. And without a shower, sleeping in dirt. Eclipse sighed.
"Kazesasou, kokage ni, utsubusete naiteru.
Mi mo shiranu, watashi wo, watashi ga, miteita.
Yuku hito no, shirabe wo, kanaderu, GITAARA.
Konu hito no, nageki ni, hoshi ha ochite." (***)
The verse was quiet, as if Namarra was on the verge of sleep and the song was more for comfort than for personal pleasure. The words whispered through her lips, the tune elegant, but also terribly sad. Eclipse was surprised to hear such a beautiful voice escaping the Natural's lips, but as she kept listening her shock shifted to a weary depression. The words became grim as the verse went on, like it was an elegy. Her breath caught in her throat as the song continued.
"Yukanaide, donna ni sakende mo.
ORENJI no, hanabira, shizuka ni, yureru dake.
Yawarakana, hitai ni nokosareta.
Te no hira no, kioku haruka.
Tokoshie no, sayonara, tsuma hiku."
She faded out at the end, the words slowly sighing from her lips and the notes a faint reminder of what they were before. Eclipse closed her eyes and squeezed them hard, concentrating on her breathing. The last line made her shiver and crying now seemed pointless, not to mention embarrassing. But the song and deep emotions made her exhaustion even heavier, her mind gliding downward until finally she fell asleep.
(***)
Song: "Akatsuki no Kuruma" ("Wheels of Dawn")
Singer: FictionJunction YUUKA
Personal Notes: I take no credit for this song whatsoever. I do not own it, nor do I own any part of it. It is an insert song for Gundam SEED and as such I felt it okay to put in the story. Since music is a main theme for this story, having the songs from the series worked well for both the plot and characterization. There will be more songs in the future for those same reasons.
Sincerely,
Strata-Assassin
A/N: So, we finally get to one of the showdowns of the story. I hope I did it some justice and I know neither of them got terribly hurt, but they have a mobile suit battle to fight soon so I couldn't just have them breaking limbs left and right. Besides, I don't think either of them would let the other get that close, especially when they went berserk. Well, Eclipse came close to snapping Namarra's wrist, but-again-I had to tone it down a bit. Damn though, they're gonna be in a lot of pain come the next chapter or so. O.o Good job girls.
The SIN-ED guys seem to be in some trouble themselves. Between fighting with each other and trying not to bleed out, it's a wondering they get anything done. They're gonna be fading into the background again here pretty quick because of everything happening at Orb. Don't worry, our favorite Berserkers aren't done with them yet and they'll be coming back around soon. I almost killed off Wrath, so thank Death-Scimitar if you're one of the people who like his character. I had all my plans written down that he died, but-well-we'll have to see where things go from here. It might get a bit interesting, especially since him and Stray will be in the same place at the same time again. Poor FS.
I think the best thing about what comes after this chapter is the fact that Namarra and Lexi are basically going to be roomies now. Scary, isn't it? I can't express my sympathies enough to Lathan. Poor kid.
Special thanks to my Betas for taking time out of their far-more-interesting-than-mine lives to look at this chapter with a magnifying glass and a red pen. And trust me, this is at least the seventh draft. O.o Death-Scimitar, CSSStravag, and Maderfole definitely deserve more credit than words can state.
Also, special thanks to all my avid readers and reviewers! I love hearing from you and I even broke 300 reviews that last chapter! Kudos, guys!
Corrections to the Narrative:
(Nothing that I could think of for this chapter.)
Questions/Gripes:
Overall observation on Lexi's parents: Ah yes, the parents. There's a long history there that I can't really get into until the next story. They have good intentions-I think-but just have a poor way of showing it. They can be impulsive-we can see their children share the same trait-but they tried to make up for the mess, just didn't exactly keep Lexi's feelings in mind. I'll probably bring them around again in the coming chapters, but they are who they are and, unfortunately, are terribly stubborn/narrow-minded. I think they've been on the high end of the ladder a bit too long and just don't listen to reason anymore. It's a pity really, because their kids turned out to be pretty awesome. *shrugs* Or maybe I'm bias.
Thanks again for reading/reviewing and I'll see you all again in the next chapter!
Strata