|
"Heero Yuy, L6, and the Second Suit Wars "Part 3Written By: ELLE Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from Gundam
Wing (unfortunately) and they were used without permission, but all
the words are my own. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: occurs post-EW, language, angst, sex,
hopefully acceptable OOC, 1st person POV (*shudder* sorry, no way
around it!), plus a ton of minor and a few major OCs (since it's 1st
person, you get to avoid dealing with them too much.) Pairings: 1x2x1 plus others TBD Summary: Jack Kaufmann has no recollection of the braided man who claims they were once more than friends, but his quest to recover his memories leads him to discover a plot much larger than himself that is a threat to the peace he'd once fought to protect... The lovely Miss-Murdered beta'd this for me and frankly this story wouldn't exist without her encouragement.
"Restitution of a Former Life " 3.10 The Ally
I felt Lennon sift through my memories of the battle that had just occurred as I sat panting, feeling weak and confused. My heart pounded and my eyes searched the space in front of me frantically, looking for him, looking for the Leos that were no longer there. I tried to reconcile my memories with reality and I just... couldn't. In that moment I felt truly, utterly fucked. "They are just children in those suits, you know...?" His uncertainty was alarming given the circumstances. I mean I knew there were children in these suits so my memories should dictate that to him and yet he still felt it necessary to ask which meant... I just... It just felt so much like... I thought of the war and I guess he understood, having been a soldier himself. It didn't seem to surprise him that I was a Gundam pilot, not OZ ground troops as we'd told him before on the ride in to L6 when this was just a scouting operation and we had no idea what we'd find. Your brain activity is returning to normal, HERA informed me and I sighed but I didn't withdraw my weapon. I didn't know what was happening, I didn't know where Lennon was, and whether we wanted to admit it or not, those children were a threat. It occurred to me that Lennon's voice wasn't being pipped through speakers - he wouldn't have access to my radio frequencies - and if he wasn't close enough for general broadcast, then he had to be hooked up to HERA. But when I considered the plans Trowa had given us, the implication was that no one could use the full version of HERA that wasn't introduced to it as a child... "Where is he?" I demanded of HERA and her reply came only moments before his. He is on L6. "This is a one way trip for me, buddy," Lennon said with a laugh before offering me the full story through pushed memories. Once Duo and I disappeared he realized shit was about to go down. They wholesale forced wiping the minds of the others who rode in with us, who were there at the request of Edward and Relena. And instead of sitting around and letting himself be fucked, Lennon ran, disappearing into the lower levels of the colonies through more conventional means than the waste system. He managed to hide in the dormitories for a few hours as the children were out on training and in the cafeteria but eventually Trowa found him. Trowa was about to turn him in when he happened to mention us as he begged desperately not to be taken back, not to have his memories, everything that made him who he was, erased. Trowa explained to him his fears that the children were too brainwashed, too controlled to do what needed to be done to stop this and Lennon volunteered to help. When I connected with Lizzy and Trowa learned of it, he knew beyond a doubt that we had suits and that I would come here, sooner or later, and that I would need help. Unfortunately, there was no less evasive system for Lennon to interface with. The image of his body hooked to cables and computers, rotting away in bed came to me and I felt a certain level of disgust as I considered the past few days of his life -interacting with the children, waiting for me to come here, completely tied into the system, his body basically dead, being fed intravenously by Trowa, waiting for this moment. Despite my disgust I couldn't help but be grateful as I lived through his experience and he offered me back no shame. "Although we were on opposing sides, I fought for peace too," Lennon told me. I felt the swelling of pride in his heart intimately and I understood his motivation. "Trust me, this ain't all it's cracked up to be. But maybe that's just because I'm stuck talking to kids all day." I felt his mirth and didn't understand how he could joke at a time like this but when he showed me briefly his understanding of the world Sergio wanted, a world where our bodies degraded as his did now, where we no longer had the ability to shape and mold our environment, where we were no longer essentially human, I understood his dedication. "Do you have a plan to take this place out?" I asked aloud, although he couldn't hear me, could only feel my intention with the question through the link - along with my apprehension and concern. "Most of the children are on Earth," he replied and I felt relief that he understood my primary worry. Despite having killed two children only moments ago, it wasn't intentional, I wasn't in my right mind, and the radiating fear, pain, and confusion from the other two children still here with me as they observed our exchange overwhelmed me with guilt. I certainly didn't want to kill any more of them if I could help it. "You got a badass suit with a thermal saber. I thought you come back here, help Trowa finish sabotaging the computer system and destroying the HERA programming, and then you can wreck the place, huh?" His idea of wrecking the place included melting down walls and tearing them apart in a fit of mobile suit inspired rage. Mine included self-detonation. "That's an idea," Lennon admitted, impressed, feeling my sincerity as memories of my last self-detonation surfaced. "But we're getting you outta there this time, huh? If I weren't already dead, Duo'd kill me." "No, he wouldn't," I stated back tersely as I cloaked thoughts of Duo away in my heart. Lennon had to understand - Duo was a soldier. He would accept whatever outcome was required to ensure a successful mission. But the faint, residual bleed of Duo's emotions through Lennon's connection with him let me know that Lennon was more accurate - that Duo would be crushed if he were to lose me to another self-destruct. But it didn't matter. By leaving him behind, I'd already established that the mission was more important than me, him, or his feelings and he knew it. "You can't do this," came one child's nervous argument. "We'll tell on you," was the other's particularly appropriate warning, considering their age. "That's our home." You don't understand home. It wasn't a statement from Lennon, only a feeling, and he sent it back out through the link in a way that was overwhelming, his age and maturity overpowering the children and I knew this message was being broadcast much further than just us three here now. Memories that I knew logically weren't mine but which felt so personal it was as though I had truly experienced them caused me to choke with emotion. Eating dinner with my parents and sister, fried chicken and macaroni and cheese, the smell of chocolate chip cookies baking in the kitchen. Playing football in the yard on freshly cut grass with other kids in the neighborhood, grass stains on jeans and kind admonishment from motherly eyes. Christmases with shiny wrapped packages under a tree, excitement and happiness and running down carpeted stairs to see what had been brought to us. Every happy memory that had never been for me or those other orphaned kids, nearly tangible in my consciousness now, and when they faded out the only emotion I was left with was longing. For a brief moment I wished I could feel what Duo felt then, wished I could allow myself to connect with him and explain to him once and for all that singular emotion which welled within me during that experience - that happiness - was why I knew for a fact that he was my home. Because that feeling I felt then... The only other time I ever felt that way was when I was with him. But I didn't. Because I had to protect my home. "And I will kill to protect it," I growled, turning my suit to face the two left with me - and they knew it was true. They presented no challenge. I watched a minute, waited for some kind of response before readjusting my trajectory towards L6. Even if my threat didn't work and they both decided to come after me I was sure my experience and stronger, more weaponized suit would allow me to easily defeat them as I had their two comrades. Their two child comrades, probably not even past the age of five. I drew a few shaky breaths and tried not to be sick as my mind replied my insanity. It was completely unnecessary to kill children - to kill anyone. How many times in my life did I have to make the same mistakes? But finally, I saw the half-constructed initial colony of L6 floating on the horizon and focused on that instead of my nausea and self-loathing. Lennon related to me where the exit chute for the new type suits was positioned and I approached with thermal saber drawn. I didn't expect them to send additional suits after me - as Lennon had already confirmed, most of them were positioned around the ESUN already and they didn't really have any to spare. If I had to wager a guess, I'd say that Sergio had those four sent to me in an attempt to guilt me out of following through. But I'd fought a war on this guilt before. Four child challengers weren't going to defeat me now, not in the face of the thousands I've killed. Slowly, I melted away the door panel and stared up through the corridor, the suit feeding me information regarding its dimensions on a side screen. I turned off the saber and pushed forward lightly, not wanting to overcompensate and smash into anything, although the thought amused me slightly. As if I wasn't going to blow this whole place to hell. When I reached the end the door was open for me and I maneuvered inside, landing down on the floor as the door shut and resealed behind me, gravity shifting to something resembling earth before the airlock on the other side opened. I scanned the area for threats but then it was just a big, empty hangar with a few half constructed new type suits to the far end. Nothing to worry about. As I walked forward I noted a door open on the opposite side to where the suits were stashed, just a yellow wall of light and I squinted as I came to a halt in the middle of the floor, HERA bringing up an enlargement to sate my curiosity. In the picture panel, despite the harsh backlighting, the familiar outline was obvious. Trowa had come to meet me.
~ * ~ tbc... |
