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"Alternative Directions: Options "Written By: Karina Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or the lovely
boys and their girls in the series. Wish I did. Please don't sue me.
I haven't even got a brass razoo to give you. Rating: Deffinately PG in Australia, at the moment,
but probably safer to say R for later chapters. Not sure about international
ratings Warnings: It will be 6x2, even though it does
not start out that way. After all, Zechs and Duo never met in Gundam
Wing and only spoke briefly over a com line in Endless Waltz. I've
tried to keep them in character as I saw them in the series. A bit
of language creeping in under stressful conditions. Pairings: eventual 6x2, past 2xH, 2+H,6x9, 1+R
Summary: Directions is set post Endless Waltz
and roughly 2 years have passed. Zechs and Noin are on Mars and Duo,
after spending some time with Hilde in a relationship leaves L2 to
join Preventers. Hilde was not happy about his decision. I guess enough
said. Here t'is, and I hope you like it. This is also AU for the standard
setting, as well as the series and Endless Waltz. Spoilers: Gundam Wing Series and Endless Waltz Many thanks to Dulin for volunteering to beta this. //... // thoughts
"Alternative Directions: Options"
Chapter 85 Mars Colony Base Dome Time: 21:15 [Approx 19:05 Sanc time] Zechs //If we can get to the shuttle control room safely we can see exactly what damage has been done to the computer systems. We could pass near enough to the elevators so that we can make certain the fire fighting systems are still operational and handling the fire. The last thing we need to deal with is a wild fire in the enviro dome. // He slipped around the last of the crates, pausing to survey the area with brooding eyes, wary. No one was in sight and he could hear no sounds that were suggestive of movement, but he was not a trusting body at the best of times, and now he was positively paranoid. There was a hissing, very faint which he hoped was the automatic extinguishers dousing the flaming pile of debris that once was an elevator block. //Noin. Where are you? Be alive. Don't you dare get yourself killed.// Giles slipped up to crouch beside him, motioning to the edge of the building across from them. After a hasty discussion they had decided to tackle the accumulation of crates on the far side of the control tower, mindful that in certain of his visions Shanna McIntyre was hidden there, waiting to pick off anyone who responded to the threat of the explosion and resulting fire. In order to reach the Shuttle Control Tower they needed to get past her secured position. Their only other alternative would be to make their way to the far side of the dome, circle its protecting wall and approach the tower from the far side. While that was undoubtedly a safer option to take, it was also going to be guaranteed to be time consuming. They had mutually decided that they would take the riskier shorter route, both certain that time was an increasingly important factor. “Ready?” Giles breathed. “Go.” the breath of a whisper answered him. They moved quickly in a cautious glide along the side of building C, eyes constantly scanning their surroundings, hating the openness of their chosen course, knowing that time pushed them to make possibly fatal decisions until they crouched at the edge of the warehouse. Across a small gap lay the Main Control Tower and their target. The nest of crates was on the far side of the building and at the far end, but to get to that building they had to expose themselves to the view of nearly half the dome. It was going to be too easy to be spotted crossing that open ground and neither really felt like taking that step, but they were exposed on one side as it was and to linger longer would only increase the chances of discovery. With a low hiss Giles touched him lightly on the shoulder, pointed to himself and edged to the corner of the building. A quick glance at Zechs who was scanning their open side and then an affirmative nod and Giles threw a cautious peek around the corner of building C and ran in a half crouch to the near corner of the Tower. Zechs slipped to the corner of the warehouse and glanced around, seeking any movement, either furtive to offer a clue to another Sleeper or an open movement which could be another terra former who would fall victim to the assassins. He watched as Giles ghosted along the short side of the tower and crouched low, peering around the corner to gain a view of the distant Shuttle Control Tower and any cover that they might make use of. To the waiting blonde the Raider operative seemed to take an inordinately long time to make his survey but Zechs knew that was only illusion. He was more that accustomed to how time was affected by action and tension. In this tense situation time would drag, until they once more had to fight for their lives and then it would move quickly enough, resulting in death for someone. He was not inclined to be forgiving and only hoped that he made no more mistakes. At last Giles turned and slipped back across the gap to join him, motioning to the boxes they had come from and leading the way back into their protection. “Okay, we have a little problem and we need to decide what to do. If we approach the crates on the far side of the tower from this end of the tower she will have plenty of time to see us coming. We are sitting ducks if we go through with it. Once we get into her nest and check the crates, there is another group of crates and some transport trays abandoned about half way between the two towers. That is our closest cover if we are to come at the shuttle tower from this side. Anyone looking out of the windows of either of these two towers has to see us. They would have to be blind not to.” Their biggest problem would be in passing McIntyre if she was still nested in those crates. Just how true to his visions was this set of circumstances now and how closely dare he follow the outlay of the vision? Approaching her position from the far side of the control building was the equivalent of committing suicide in his view, which left only two options he would even consider. They could move up the length of the control tower on this nearer side, slip around the corner and across the front of the tower, hopefully into the crates unnoticed by McIntyre or anyone else stalking the area. Considering the amount of open space that subjected them to, they would be in serious trouble if anyone was out there, hunting in the dome. The second option he would consider was that they could scale the tower, either by climbing its exterior, which he was not in favor of, or by entering via the main door, which would involve them crossing more than half the route he already hated as being too open. Once on the roof they could tackle getting down the other side and dropping into the crates, but that did not even take into account the traps Shanna McIntyre or her Sleepers may have laid in the tower itself. //Suicide to take the time to try climbing that thing. Too open. We would be even more exposed. I don't believe that there really is a choice. We have to chance there being other hunters around in the dome and go by the near side route. At least it gives us a chance of gaining the crates without her seeing us coming. I only hope we have taken out the remainder of the Sleepers and that the infiltration team are too busy at the elevators. There is no way that I can handle climbing with this shoulder. // Giles, had been surveying their surroundings and with a small sigh glanced at Zechs with a faint lift of his shoulders in a hopeless shrug. “Yeah, I know. It's really no choice, is it? It would take twice as long to go to the Hydroponics domes and flit from cover to cover as it would to skip along the side of the tower itself, and we would only have to cover double the open ground in the long run anyway. Your not up to climbing the tower even if we had the gear to make that a viable option and if that bitch has been hunting in the control tower I hate to think what traps she would have laid in there. I'll go first to the corner of building C and check out the view.” Zechs nodded, not of a mind to argue with the pain in his shoulder reminding him just how unfit he was for this type of action. He was quite willing for Giles to take point and he would cover the man's rear. Tried and true methods were best in some situations and this was certainly one of them. Decision made they ghosted to the edge of the crates and it took only seconds for Giles to reach the corner once again. With the motion of a raised hand beckoning him, Zechs joined his partner, taking up his position at the corner of building C so that Giles could move on to the near corner of the Control Tower where, after a quick look around Giles motioned him to come. Again the small pause in which he said a prayer to whatever God watched over fools and idiots and he took the run to join the Raider. “This is worrying. It's quiet as the grave out here.” Giles whispered. “Mind the glass just up from here. I never noticed it before but the window to the control room is broken. From the amount of glass I'd say it had to be broken from the outside and I think there's a short rope hanging from the roof of the tower to the window. It's a bit hard to make out in this light.” Zechs glanced up uneasily looking for and finding the rope and gaping hole that marked the window. He nodded a confirmation, very uneasy about their silent surroundings and that window. Of specially toughened glass it was supposed to be able to survive the effects of explosive decompression should the dome be hit. Furthermore the control tower was where McIntyre had been assigned in an emergency situation and that would have allowed her to take action against the other terra formers in the tower. To make a serious impression all she would have needed to do was enlist the aid of one of her Sleepers and they could take out the tower personal with very little if any opposition. He had no doubt that it had been a blood bath and that there had been no survivors. Yet what about the window? “Go.” he murmured. “We need to get out of sight and that means we need those crates around us.” Trying to present as unobtrusive a target as possible they moved the length of the tower, each crouched low, backs pressed to the solidity of the building. Neither trusted the silence which was weighing more and more on their psyches, reminding them that this dome should be alive with the shouts of people and the rumble of returning machinery from the maintenance teams returning to the dome. It was like a ghost town, eerily silent and oppressive. Giles peered around the corner, seeking any sign of
anyone moving and sighed softly when he saw no threatening movement.
He did not trust this unnatural silence and he was uncertain if he
should be relieved or worrier that they had come so far and met no
one. He glanced behind him at the blonde who was covering his back,
glancing now behind them which reminded Giles that they were exposed
to anyone up to half the length of the dome away from the rear side.
At least once they got around this corner they were covered from that
As Giles slipped around the corner of the tower Zechs moved to take his place. As if the silence of the dome was not enough to have him on edge, now there was the return of that eerie phantom presence that had haunted him. The presence felt the same, but at least this time the raging anger he had sensed and for some reason associated with Noin, was lacking. This time the mood was more mellow, still intense but sorrowful almost. * '...ay. The bitch … to … tower … sorry for what …know … you through … been a bitch …but I love … you. Wish … stand … distracting you … dangerous … sorry, love.'* His back hit the wall of the building and wild eyed he glared around him, knowing that he was alone and yet equally certain that he was not. A shudder wracked his body in response to what felt like a phantom touch glide over his cheek, a caress much as Noin had often caressed him. A feather-like stroke of shapely slender fingers. Shaking in reaction he pressed his back to the reassuring solidity of the building, feeling the world sway precariously about him and a thundering pain rising in his head. “Zechs? Shit, this is not a good time for what ever it is your doing!” Hands, real solid flesh and blood hands grasped his good shoulder and pulled at him and his body at least obeyed that insistent grasp. The pain was rising, sweeping over him, engulfing him in tides of agony. A wash of emotion flooded him, swamping his perceptions … sorrow … hope … pain … love … sheathed anger like a blade … certainty that change was inevitable … emotions that were almost words filling his awareness, forcing out the world around him. Impressions of another filling him, not his own perceptions of the world but those of another who was as familiar to him as … *********** Hands, small, slender, long fingered. Strong hands that caressed as they moved across his hip, dropping down to smooth over his thigh. A body pressed close, skin to skin, breath warm against his chest, the light caress of warm moist tongue to a nipple. *********** 'Zechs? Can you hear me? I'm sorry love. I don't know how this works and I can feel the pain in you. I will be quick. McIntyre is heading for the Shuttle Control Tower. Everyone is dead there and in the Main Control Tower too. The military types are working on the freight elevators and I have to go back to my body. This is weird, love. I'm sorry for doubting you and thinking that you were losing your sanity, but I understand now. Please … my body … I have to go back to my body before She gets there. She has been looking for me. I don't know what I can do to defend myself in this state, but I will try. Just know that whatever happens I love you and that I am sorry for everything I did. I know my mistakes and we will talk. If I survive this.' He so desperately wanted to heave the contents of his gut up and with it the crawling sensation that covered his entire body. There were real hands on his back and somehow he was no longer standing and his face was pressed to cold concrete. Those hands were moving rhythmically on him, pressing at his back and the sides of his ribs in something like the rhythm of a heart beat. A regular, even paced rhythm that seemed to be bringing back more than the awareness of cramping agony. There was a voice that was whispering in his ear, not in his head. That whispering was speaking to him, calling to him repeatedly. Air was being forced through his gasping lungs by that steady rhythm that seemed to be calming the wild beating of his heart, and the thunder in his head was quieting down to almost manageable proportions as quickly as it had risen in the first place. With the thunder receding he could more easily make out the words that whispered in his ear, entreating him to listen. “ … come on, you have to establish a rhythm, man. Zechs? Not too deep now, but not shallow breaths either. Try, Zechs. Shit, I know it's not easy, but we really can't afford to stay here for long and you have to regain control. It's just not safe to be out here. Deeper breaths man, you really don't want to puke and bigger breaths will help overcome that reflex. Come on, Zechs. Control it.” Giles. The name swam to the fore, a recognition of the voice that whispered in his ear. He became aware that he was shaking and the hardness of a body stretched out against his own was a welcome anchor to reality amid swimming perceptions. Nothing seemed stable in this world accept that hardness pressed along one side of him and the ice cold concrete under his cheek. He ached in every extremity of his body, particularly the left side of him where that solidity that was Giles was pressed. “Zechs, you have to wake up, man. You are just too bloody big for me to carry and we really can't stay here. At least there's some colour coming into your face now. Can you hear me? Zechs? A grunt will do. Just a little grunt, enough to let me know you are back in the world of the living.” Memory of a sort was stirring. He knew this weakness. He had felt it on many occasions since he had had the misfortune to trade suits with … with … Yuy? Epyon. This was reaction to vision but … no, there was something not right. This bone aching pain and disorientation did not feel quite the same, but whatever it was it was sufficient to have him groveling on the floor, helpless … Helpless? That was bad. That was dangerous. It was dangerous because … because … “Giles?” he did not recognize his own voice, a thread bare, gravel edged whisper of sound. “Thank God.” heartfelt relief in the tone, panic receding. “I know it must hurt like hell, but you really need to sit up. I'll help. I'll hold you up and steady you but you have to sit up. There's a crate right here that you can lean against and I will stop you from falling again. Slowly now, or you will end up doing more harm than good.” The world tipped crazily around him and what vision he had was lost to red agony. He wanted to scream against the pain and the disorientation that whirled the world around him in a dizzying spiral, denying them reality, but all that came out was a grunt. Gentle hands were on his shoulders and then left him, fingers tipped back his head and those steadying hands were back, gripping his shoulders. With that touch the pain and disorientation swept through him in a breaking wave, the wave burning to life through his left shoulder. A sharp sting originating in his right shoulder and a crawling sensation informed him that he had been injected with something and in response to that a remote voice screamed deep within him that that was dangerous and he really should protest. It faded with a pathetic whimper under the onslaught of another wave of disorientation. “That should help in a minute or so, with the pain at least. Sorry I did not catch you in time and stop you from landing on your shoulder, but at least you did not crack your head open. Can you hear me? Christ, you're more out than in, eh? Well, its not like we have any options, is it? Until you can move we are not going anywhere. I don't know if this is safe or not, but I don't see that there is much choice. It's about all that I have in my med kit that might get you back in the land of the living.” Silence. When the voice stopped there was only a worrying silence. The throbbing in his head was easing, thankfully, and the agony from his shoulder seemed a little less. He sucked in a deeper breath at the return of the sting and crawling of liquid entering his veins. He could not fight it though. He could not muster enough energy to do more than sit here and sob air into starving lungs. It seemed that his breathing improved, growing stronger, deeper breaths over taking the shallow gasping and those hands had returned and now supported him, no longer massaging him and forcing air into his lungs. “I don't know what that was, but that it was related to your gift I'm pretty sure is a reasonable assumption. A vision? Did you experience a vision? Zechs? Can you make any sense of what I am saying? What did you see? Zechs, what did you see? Damn. Are you going to be as out of it as you said you were afraid you would be if you had another? I don't know enough about precogs let alone your particular form of precognitive talent to help you with this. I'm not one of the trainers, after all and that is what you need right now. A fully trained Master and medical team to bring you through this. I only know a few basic techniques I learned when they worked with me. Stuff that they use with just about every talent. Still, we just have to do the best that we can, yes? Hello? Mars to Zechs? Anyone home in there? Ah, sorry. Not funny I know, but you're frightening the shit out of me I hope you know. I get snippy when I'm terrified. Not to mention cranky. Maybe even a little bit sarcastic.” “A lot … sarcastic … but who … cares … between friends?” That was Giles and he had the memory that he was accounted a friend. Perhaps his only real friend in this situation. Situation? Vision? Was this a vision? No, it did not feel like a vision but the same general rule had to apply to what ever this was. No vision that much was certain, but something else. He had to move on, get himself into perspective and get his feet back under him. “I … fell?” The hands moved from his shoulders to rest on his cheeks. Their warmth cupping his face was welcome “Yeah. Yeah, you fell. Open your eyes and try to focus on me.” Open his eyes? That simple little action took effort and he was uncertain if he had the strength to do that much, but that sense of urgency that usually came to him after a vision was rising now, reminding him that there was danger. Reminding him that if Giles was not a particularly solid vision then they were in serious trouble. A blurred something that might have passed for a face at some time in the past swam before him and he groaned in protest, pain rising as the world swam about him. In protest to both the pain and the distortion of that face he shut his eyes. “No. Look at me. I need to see your eyes. Just … yeah, okay. It's okay. Your pupils are dilated and your eyes look … odd, for want of a better word. I've see that reaction before and it will pass in a couple of minutes. Was it a vision?” “No.” he was thankful that no protest had come to his closing his eyes again. The world was not so strange if he did not have to look at it. “No vision.” “Not a vision? Well, have you felt this before?” “No.” the breath of a whisper. Giles scrubbed at his face with shaking hands and to gain himself a moment to think he moved from the crate where he had propped Zechs, peering anxiously through the gap between two crates to survey the area beyond their hiding place. He had caught the fainting man and managed to drag him into the cover of the crates that had been their destination, praying that McIntyre was not hidden there, waiting for them and that he had not made the wrong choice. Maybe he should have chanced going into the building, but the crates were just as close as the doors had been, or almost, and by choosing the crates he did not have to deal with doors while holding the man who considerably outweighed him. As it was he had lost his grip on Zechs, just barely managing to stop Zechs from bashing his head into the concrete though he had been unable to prevent him from landing on his already abused left side. The only good thing to have happened was that McIntyre was not in their hiding place. //Not a vision? All the signs are there for this to have been a psi incident. Especially his eyes. I wonder how much he remembers?// “So, can you describe what happened?” “Noin?” a breathy sigh, confusion colouring his voice. “It … was … Noin.” //Noin? What the hell?// Giles glared at the blonde, lips pursed as he considered that statement. There was nothing questioning about the actual name he uttered. He sounded certain of the identifying name, but confused with it and all together too calm. Too many of the Gifted fell to pieces emotionally when some previously unsuspected aspect of their talent reared itself, unbidden, for the first time. He had done so himself often enough. Zechs Marquise, while obviously confused did not give the appearance of being ready to fall apart emotionally. He seemed more curious than anything. “Lucrezia Noin? How was it Noin?” Blue eyes opened looking glazed and seemed to search the area and stopped when they came to rest on him. He watched that dazed search, watching the clarity gradually return to the ice blue gaze and while his eyes narrowed against the light at least this time Zechs did not close them immediately. Giles noted with relief that Zechs took the time to examine their surroundings before he answered, clear indication that he was regaining his facilities. “We are in the crates beside the tower?” at Giles' confirming nod Zechs groaned. “Sorry. I'm sorry. God, I hurt.” “Noin?” A gentle prod. He needed to understand what had happened and they did not have much time. Keeping Zechs talking and forcing him to concentrate should improve his responses and firm his grounding to the here and now. “I … I was talking … to her. No. That's wrong.” he frowned daring to shake his head a little in denial, cringing from the flare in his headache. “No, she … she was talking to me.” Giles sighed, not understanding in the least but knowing enough to keep the man talking and reached to take the pulse of his patient, deciding that he was steadily improving even if he was talking nonsense just now. He was, in fact, improving much more rapidly than Giles had expected. Already there was colour flooding back into Zechs' face and the shaking that had once been close to convulsions was now down to a light trembling. He was visibly more alert and his voice was growing stronger, demonstrating a frightening resilience considering the abuse he had already suffered. “About?” “About?” Giles resisted the urge to sigh. He had to give the man the chance to regain his awareness and after what had looked almost like an epileptic seizure, admittedly with notable differences, it was no wonder the man was disoriented and tended to drift a little. Still, he was looking better and he even winced as he realized what Giles had meant. “Noin was talking to you about …?” he prompted. “Something about … the tower. The Shuttle Control Room, I think.” he leaned his head back against the crate that supported him, frowning but resisting the urge to close his eyes against the world. That was not the way to move beyond the weakness, “I think … McIntyre is heading for the Shuttle Control Tower. There was something about the freight elevators as well. A body?” //Gibberish?// Giles dismissed that as quickly as it had come. //No, he's not the sort to lose it totally and I have to be careful not to give him the impression I think he's gone off the deep end. That is entirely the wrong approach to take with a Gifted in breakout and I think that is what this is. Break out. His talent is emerging, and he's going to be one of the multitalented ones. That is not such a good thing for us just now, considering the delicacy of the situation. He really needs to be in an isolation suite under a Training Master and medical teams care. Still, truth be told we did not always have those advantages. Many of us go through breakout without that kind of help and advantage and all too often totally alone. We can manage. I just have to keep his confidence up.// “A body? Any idea whose?” a gentle prod. It was best to go slowly and encourage Zechs to pursue what he had experienced. That always helped to clarify the talent's perceptions and to set the mind at rest that they were not going insane. He dropped his head into his hands, wincing at the pain in his shoulder on moving his left arm, but he ignored it. Pain could be lived with and he had to get himself out of this weakness and start to pull himself together. He was going to have to stand shortly and move around. Not just stand and walk either, but run and most likely fight for his life. He could afford no weakness now. There would be plenty of time later to curl up into an agonized ball and forget that the world existed. Later. “Ahm. The elevators … those military types, she said. That would be Simpson and who ever is left out of his team. Frazier, was it? I think. I think she said they are working on the elevators.” Well, that was pertinent to their current predicament, so that was better than he had hoped for. “So … likely they are either disarming the bombs the Sleepers installed there or altering the trigger device so that only they can activate them.” “Yeah. Yes, I think so. She mentioned the elevators and I think something about the Shuttle Control Room … and McIntyre going there. Yes, I think … I think McIntyre is looking for something there.” Giles hesitated. The mans voice was gaining in strength and that stimulant should be starting to kick in. Zechs should be capable of standing soon and they could make a move on getting out of the crates. “Looking for something? I wonder what that could be? Look Zechs, in the conversations you and I have had before you never once suggested that Noin could be Gifted. If she was talking to you then that would be suggestive of telepathy, but I have never known anyone to react to telepathy as you did.” That thought gave him pause and he considered it for a long moment, shifting to stare at Giles. //Noin is Gifted? Well, yes, I suppose she must be if … body? Her body? Did she … She said her body.// “Zechs? What is it? You just remembered something, didn't you?” “I think … I think that McIntyre is after Noin. That is why she is heading for the control tower. Yes, she is going to the control tower to find Noin." Giles lunged forward to catch the man as he struggled to gain his feet, making no move to stop him but offering him support at each careful stage. “Easy. Slowly now. Landing flat on your face will help no one, least of all yourself. Well, if Noin is in the tower then I suppose we will go there, yes? We were going to exactly that place, after all, before this happened, so this changes nothing of our plans. No, not now, man. You'll be flat on your backside if not your face if you move now. Give it a minute. No, Zechs, you need the time and we need to understand what just happened. If this is accurate, what you just experienced and have explained to me of the incident, then it means that Lucrezia Noin has to be a talent. One of the Gifted. Noin is a telepath I would think, but that does not explain what knocked you out.” “Telepath … A telepath?” The crystal blue eyes were becoming more focused and ice like by the second. “Yes. She has the capability of speaking from mind to mind. That is how she would have contacted you. Telepathically. But most people do not go down like a ton of bricks from a telepathic contact, so either you have a problem with telepathy, or she is way too powerful and literally shouted in your unprepared mind, knocking you out. That means either you dropped your shields or she got past them.” “No … yes, I suppose, but …” he rested a hand on the crate behind him, trying to use it to give his racing thoughts a chance to steady as it steadied his body. “Why would she be so concerned for her body?” Giles arched an eyebrow, glancing at his companion in surprise. He had not expected that to come back by way of a response. “What do your mean, 'concerned for her body'?” “She said that she had to get back to her body. Yes, that is what she said. That she had to get back to her body …before She got there. I suppose that would be McIntyre. God.” the headache was rising again, pounding at his temples and threatening to tear his skull apart. “It hurts to think.” //Get back to her body? Back to her … Oh, shit. Out of body experience? Could she be dead? Hell, I think that would break him if she was dead. I dare not even suggest it.// Zechs pushed himself away from the support of the crate, looking about him and accepting Giles supporting hand. The man was close enough to grab him and stop a fall, but not standing close enough to crowd him and make him feel threatened. “Give yourself a couple of minutes before you try moving.” “No. No, we don't have the time. For some reason I always improve more rapidly if I am moving at this stage and we have to get to the tower. Noin said that she had to go back and … she sounded so uncertain of being capable of defending her body. I don't understand, Giles, but I know that she is in trouble.” “Fine, but we have to move slowly to begin with, okay? Just take it carefully or you are likely to collapse and I may not catch you before you grind your face into the pavement. I really don't think your shoulder would appreciate another landing like the last one. Now, you said that she was unsure if she could defend her body?” “Yes. No. I mean... I think she said she was uncertain what she could do to defend herself in that state. I think. Yes, something like that. Giles? What does it mean? You know more of the Gifted abilities than I do. Have I been hallucinating or something? Is it possible for Noin to tell me this and to feel as though she was standing beside me?” He shrugged slightly, considering what he had been told, attempting to gain a little time to consider his options. Zechs would have no idea of the varied abilities of the Gifted, and to be honest he did not know much more, but he did have an idea of what might be happening at least. If it would help to calm Zechs was another matter entirely. It could just send him over the deep end into the very insanity that he feared, or make him go into a rage that could loose God only knew what. The man was so obviously going through Breakout and it would take very little to break him. Unknown Psychic talent or talents were awakening and that was always a delicate time for anyone. He did not need Zechs to panic and he had to remember that Zechs had been living with the woman for roughly a year. “Well, you need to understand that I'm not sure if what I think might be happening is actually accurate, but I think it is at least possible. Just wait there while I check to see if we have any visitors. Lean yourself against the crate for a minute.” he peered out from the crates, taking particular care to mark anything suspicious. They were not going to be moving quickly and he did not need to hurry the man any more than necessary. It was idiocy to move so soon after this incident, but they really did not have too much in the way of options. “Okay, let's move. Carefully, mind you. If you collapse half way to our next cover we are going to be in all sorts of shit. You are just too big for me to pick up and carry.” “You are avoiding the issue.” The softly whispered comment was accompanied by a piercing look. “Not really. I'm just giving myself enough time to phrase this without you going ballistic on me. It is not proven, you understand. We are working in the dark here, not knowing the facts, only surmising, but from what you have told me, I think that it is possible that Noin may have left her body. Gone Astral. That is where the mind, the consciousness that is the person you know, and the body itself part company for a while. If this is what she has done then it is dangerous if she loses the thread between the two halves of the whole. Look Zechs, I don't really know the words to describe this adequately, but if she does have the ability to use this Gift, then she needs training just as much as you do.” “Gone Astral?” he turned the words over carefully, testing their flavor and not liking what was implied. “Astral Projection. I really don't know much about that talent. My strength is as a Suggestor, a select, specialist type of telepath and that is a far cry from astral projection. That she contacted you suggests she has a form of telepathy if not full telepathy as a second ability. I don't know if the problem there is with her or something in you. I really don't know if most who can go astral can talk to somebody while they are out of body. It's new territory for me, believe me.” “But it is possible for a person to leave their body behind?” His eyes centred on Giles with a sharp intensity that demanded to know-demanded confirmation of fact or a confession that this was all fantasy. “Yeah. Yes, it is.” “Good.” //That means I am not insane. I have not lost it. I did hear what I thought I heard. I think. Or is he just humoring me? I don't know. I just don't know what to think anymore.// “Hey.” Giles lightly touched the man's arm, a reassuring, anchoring touch. “You are not nuts, man. No, I am not a true telepath, remember. I can very rarely speak words to another person's mind or read their thoughts, but I know what my reactions were when I was taught about the Gifted. I can guess what you are thinking now and I know it's hard to take in and accept, but you are not insane. You will find that the world has … grown, I suppose is the word I am looking for. Things are not always as they appear to be and the Gifted know that there is more in the universe than most people think. I'm sorry. I really am sorry that I just don't have the words to explain.” “It's okay, Giles. I learned when I used Epyon that what I had thought was reality was only a state of mind. A small, ignorant but safe state of mind. You don't see multiple possibilities of the future and think thereafter that the world is on a set fated course. There is no such thing as fate, not the way most people think of fate. We can and do make our own destiny. Most of us just don't know it.”
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