Post by MING on Feb 5, 2010 23:12:43 GMT -5
Slowly and quietly, the sun set over the Pacific Ocean outside of old San Francisco.
The small transport plane stopped precariously close to the edge of the massive runway complex attached to Zeon's California base. It was a small, high-speed affair, meant for ferrying VIPs and the like from one place to another quickly and quietly. Even as the jet engines idled from a high-pitched scream, the rear cargo door was openning and several men were rushing a wheeled gurney down and into a nearby transport vehicle.
Strapped to the gurney was a young girl, heavily sedated but still attempting to escape the leather strips that held her down.
~
**Seven Hours Earlier**
For awhile, she felt nothing. She saw nothing, heard nothing, thought nothing. How she ended up in the Great Lakes region after having been in South America only a day earlier, she couldn't say. But it was where she stopped. And where it all came rushing back.
He was gone, and just like before, she had heard it all happen in her mind. It was stuck in there, and it wasn't going away. His final thoughts, his hopes for the future. Diego was dead, and she was left alone all over again.
She wasn't sure where she was, just that it was dark and smelled of soot. Nobody else was nearby, she had stumbled in and crawled into a corner where she curled up. She was still staring vacantly when they arrived, several soldiers sweeping across the complex while the doctors came up to her.
It was an odd thing, she felt somewhat insulated from her own actions. She heard herself screaming, felt herself kicking and thrashing as the doctors tried to pull her up and take her away. She even felt the needle prick in her armd and even the slow spread of the tranquilizer moving through her bloodstream. Yet, in her mind, she was there. She was there as her parents were taken by the the fiery eruption of their shuttle. She was there as the bullets smashed through the cockpit of Diego's Gouf.
They loaded her onto a field stretcher, and that was the last she recalled of the outside world for several hours.
~
This felt like home. She was floating, free of the influence of gravity, though somewhere in her mind she passed it off as the usual drug-induced feeling of weightlessness.
"No, it's not quite the same." a voice called from nowhere, yet everywhere at the same time.
That was odd, she'd never heard anyone speak when she was drugged before.
"That's because you weren't hearing."
Hearing? But, the drugs should remove all ability to sense external stimula. The only way she would be able to hear would be...
"Through your mind, your heart, and your sould."
Okay, this was only slightly stranger than her usual dreams.
"They're all out there, fighting even now. Dying, just like Diego. And none of them ever really ask themselves why..."
The voice, it sounded vaguely familiar..
"At least Diego found his reason to fight, and knew his sacrifice would allow you to live on."
SHUT UP!!!! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!!
"I'm sorry, but this is the truth. You can't run from it forever."
You didn't even know Diego! He was...
"A man doing his job."
Why couldn't she wake up, she just wanted to wake up.
"They're out there now, still. Fighting, killing, dying."
She could feel faint sensations. There was a faint sense of cold and blowing winds, and Lieutenant Shoji facing something powerful...
"It's time for you to wake up, Natalia."
~
A steady beeping noise was coming from her left. A quick glance with her still blurry vision gave her a glimpse of an IV bag and an EKG. Her stomach rumbled, probably because she hadn't had any real food since before...
"Good morning, Persephone. How are you feeling?" a doctor called, probably having been notified of her stirring by a nurse or orderly.
Persephone paused, not only to clear the cotton feeling from her mouth, but also to assess how she was. She felt hollow, like she had so many years before, but this time was different. She was stronger now, she had to be. This time, she would stand on her own and move foward.
"Better," she replied.
The small transport plane stopped precariously close to the edge of the massive runway complex attached to Zeon's California base. It was a small, high-speed affair, meant for ferrying VIPs and the like from one place to another quickly and quietly. Even as the jet engines idled from a high-pitched scream, the rear cargo door was openning and several men were rushing a wheeled gurney down and into a nearby transport vehicle.
Strapped to the gurney was a young girl, heavily sedated but still attempting to escape the leather strips that held her down.
~
**Seven Hours Earlier**
For awhile, she felt nothing. She saw nothing, heard nothing, thought nothing. How she ended up in the Great Lakes region after having been in South America only a day earlier, she couldn't say. But it was where she stopped. And where it all came rushing back.
He was gone, and just like before, she had heard it all happen in her mind. It was stuck in there, and it wasn't going away. His final thoughts, his hopes for the future. Diego was dead, and she was left alone all over again.
She wasn't sure where she was, just that it was dark and smelled of soot. Nobody else was nearby, she had stumbled in and crawled into a corner where she curled up. She was still staring vacantly when they arrived, several soldiers sweeping across the complex while the doctors came up to her.
It was an odd thing, she felt somewhat insulated from her own actions. She heard herself screaming, felt herself kicking and thrashing as the doctors tried to pull her up and take her away. She even felt the needle prick in her armd and even the slow spread of the tranquilizer moving through her bloodstream. Yet, in her mind, she was there. She was there as her parents were taken by the the fiery eruption of their shuttle. She was there as the bullets smashed through the cockpit of Diego's Gouf.
They loaded her onto a field stretcher, and that was the last she recalled of the outside world for several hours.
~
This felt like home. She was floating, free of the influence of gravity, though somewhere in her mind she passed it off as the usual drug-induced feeling of weightlessness.
"No, it's not quite the same." a voice called from nowhere, yet everywhere at the same time.
That was odd, she'd never heard anyone speak when she was drugged before.
"That's because you weren't hearing."
Hearing? But, the drugs should remove all ability to sense external stimula. The only way she would be able to hear would be...
"Through your mind, your heart, and your sould."
Okay, this was only slightly stranger than her usual dreams.
"They're all out there, fighting even now. Dying, just like Diego. And none of them ever really ask themselves why..."
The voice, it sounded vaguely familiar..
"At least Diego found his reason to fight, and knew his sacrifice would allow you to live on."
SHUT UP!!!! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!!
"I'm sorry, but this is the truth. You can't run from it forever."
You didn't even know Diego! He was...
"A man doing his job."
Why couldn't she wake up, she just wanted to wake up.
"They're out there now, still. Fighting, killing, dying."
She could feel faint sensations. There was a faint sense of cold and blowing winds, and Lieutenant Shoji facing something powerful...
"It's time for you to wake up, Natalia."
~
A steady beeping noise was coming from her left. A quick glance with her still blurry vision gave her a glimpse of an IV bag and an EKG. Her stomach rumbled, probably because she hadn't had any real food since before...
"Good morning, Persephone. How are you feeling?" a doctor called, probably having been notified of her stirring by a nurse or orderly.
Persephone paused, not only to clear the cotton feeling from her mouth, but also to assess how she was. She felt hollow, like she had so many years before, but this time was different. She was stronger now, she had to be. This time, she would stand on her own and move foward.
"Better," she replied.