Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Mortally Corrupted ❯ Chapter 1

Title: Mortally Corrupted

by- sailor c. ryoko

Rated: R--NC-17 (throughout the fic)

Warnings (throughout the fic and all I mean): shounen-ai. het. self-mutilation. dark. major angst. violence. pain. NCS. action. language. OOC. Duo POV (other POVs? don't know yet. there's regular too though.).

Timeline: AUish. TWT for the Gundam Wing part. After TRY for Slayers part.

Pairings: 1x2x1, LinaxZel, 3x4.

Disclaimer: As you guys know perfectly well, I don't own anything…period. <sighs>

Archive: You can take it if you want. Just please tell me first! Arigato!

Notes: I really hope you guys like this….and umm…. Review or give me feedback!! Onegai?! I'd totally appreciate it a lot!!!...p.s. it may not seem like it at first but this *is* Duo-centric, k?.....good.

Summary: Four of the five pilots discover an awfully big secret that the remaining pilot is actually half-human and half-mazoku. However, they aren't the only ones who find out about this and the results *really* ain't pretty since Oz plans to use this valuable information to their own benefits by making it universally known……and that means that they'll end up getting the upper hand of the ongoing war………

Chapter 1:

The way the walls seem to mock me on this rather abandoned passageway made me feel a teensy bit uneasy. I dunno but I just couldn't place why I'd felt like that…… But just to tell you though, it's not like that'd stopped me from continuing nor did it make me decelerate in my tracks either. I gave a quick glance over at my partner who was diagonally to the right of me. He didn't seem to be thinking of slowing down any time soon either so I just shrugged that thought offuv my back.

Those thoughts just struck me outa nowhere like a ton of bricks and I just *had* to roll my eyes at my petty thoughts-- which in fact was what I did --, quickly disregarding them without more ado. It must've been the fact that we hadn't had a single mission in a little over two months and I was getting a little……rusty, maybe? I dunno. Couldn't even find the damn word to describe how I felt at the moment… But…it's weird y'know. I feel a bit… perturbed and yet at the same time equally or more so excited as well……… See? Now I could even feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins *again* and I really resist the urge to grin like an idiot, visibly thrilled. So maybe I *was* a bit overreacting in excitement about this mission but-- ack! Who gives?… Shoot! To say that I didn't want to go on any more missions would be one heckuva big ass lie, I'll tell ya that. Hells, after those utterly-boring-like-hell two months of doin' nothin', I couldn't *wait* another second to get one or surely I'd end up at the mental hospital. Welp, I got my wish alright! And now that I'm here, I'll be damned if I fucked this one up. Che.

Ne, I guess I was wrong to be rephrasing it in the terms that only *I* had a mission `coz it wasn't just me. Anou, this mission was originally a solo mission-- mines to be blunt --but then *I* came up with a great plan.

My grin widened a bit more at that notion…..just couldn't help myself. But it wasn't as if I wanted to hide that grin anyway. Anyhow, according to the blueprint of the base that Heero had so easily gotten ahold of through his laptop, this was one of *the* major bases of those baka Ozzies. And since this mission had definitely required stealth and speed (without the need to use gundams, that is) to get the needed info to know exactly what they had planned to fire at us-- which we only had been able to get tiny bits of pieces of --, I was best suited for this deadly mission. …Oi, now don't get me wrong or nothin' al'ight. I know well enough that any of the others are perfectly capable of accomplishing this mission as well,…but then again, I was the *most*…… competent of us five to do so in this case so that was why I'd been chosen to complete this operation.

So anyways, I thought about this and reasoned with them that to get the mission done quicker, it would be better if there were more of us to infiltrate the base so that more grounds will be covered more quickly. At this rate, we will quickly be one step more towards peace….. Smart, ne?… Yep! That was *my* part of the plan and I am damn proud of it man….. Shoot, what idiot wouldn't be, ne? I grinned at that.

And to say that the others weren't surprised that-- I quote --"_Maxwell_, of all people"-- unquote --came up with that one was an understatement. Ch'. Like hells they weren't. Man, I had to practically scream loud enough to wake up the _dead_ to get them to snap back from their state of shock…… And dude, if I weren't there to see them like that, I wouldn'ta believed it myself, I'll tell ya that much. But yea, that was the truth. Hardta believe that they'd give *that* kinduva reaction, ne? The grin engraved on my heart-shaped face just grew even more.

Hmm……… It, however, did hurt to recognize that my assumptions had been truthful though. To think that they were completely shocked that *I'd* come up with an idea, including any intelligence whatsoever, just confirmed that they really thought that I *was* that incompetent of accomplishing such factors. Hn. I wouldn't be surprised, if truth be told, that they would think that I certainly wasn't fit to be a gundam pilot at all….and they probably did too.

But my look of sorrow immediately vanished as it came and I beamed again as another thought popped into my mind. Welp, that just proves the theory of my wonderful acting skills and I should win an emmy award for the best actor then, ne?... I am capable of many things, which some I am not very proud of at all…, but that's another story. As for the previous one….let's just say that I ain't one ta show others my true self…from past experiences. Now don't get me wrong. I ain't sayin' that I'm the best of them and all `coz God knows I ain't, as do I. I'm jus' sayin' that I've got my own special talents as the other pilots's got theirs. I wouldn't know what ta tell ya if ya asked me who was the best so don't even start with that, man… See, from what I know, it ain'ta good sign if yer smart on da streets. Uh uh, man. I inwardly shook my head…. On the streets if you *are* smart and all, that'll only getchu into more trouble than you'll expect by far. If you act like you dumb and all, people won't think you're a threat or a smart ass or anythin' like that so they jus' leave you alone. So that's one of da reasons why I hide more things about me. There are other reasons that I hate talking about so we'll just leave it at that…… `Sides, I didn't want the others to know one specific thing about me (`bout my past or not) `coz I know from experience that if that shit gets out…..all hells break loose, man. Hn. And dontcha even dare say that I'm lyin' `bout this k? I'm justa runnin' anda hidin'. They don't ask, and I keep quiet. Simple as that. Hmph. And I intenda keep it that way too, if possible…… Ch'. S'not like I *like* talkin' `bout that subject anyway. And if they need to open up and talk about their past or some secret, I'd be willingly to listen and be there for them and all….hn. just keep those topics away from me.

"Baka, what're you grinning about? Keep your thoughts on the mission." my koi growled which brought me out of my thoughts, however all those thoughts did not slow me down or make me halt in my tracks though.

"Ryoukai." he just glared at me before continuing with me close beside him but I just brushed it off as usual. You'd think that since it was `the perfect soldier' whom had just giving me the death glare would actually faze, not to mention scare the shit outta me, but then again…after staying with him for quite awhile, you'd just get used to it by now and brush it off as nothing. (since he never really finished carrying out his threat on me anyways. although he almost did when I was captured by those Oz bastards once….. like I said, he *almost* did…and he ended up saving me instead.) My lips faintly curved up into a smile at that memory.

Up ahead to our right, we saw a closed door that specifically said `Important Files: Keep Out'. Now I *really* couldn't help but snort when I read that. "They couldn't get any more obvious than that, could they?" I muttered, my voice just dripping with sarcasm. But inside I was so damn glad. I mean after searching for precisely… (I looked at my watch on my left wrist.)…38 minutes and 12 seconds, we finally found the goddamn place. K'so. When Heero had stated that this base was huge, he wasn't kidding one bit. Usually it'll only take us ten minutes at most or less to find the file we need and then maybe another minute or two to set the explosives before having to evacuate the base. Then comes my favorite part… BOOM! There goes that base. Hmph. That one down, one less to blow up. Hmm…. I inwardly felt disappointed at that but yet by the same token, *really* satisfying too.

I just earned a `hn' from Heero and swiftly moved closer to the door, with me following closely behind. He tried the door and it was locked. obviously… He gestured me to pick the lock and I complied without protest. With my hands probing through my hair, I found the lock pick hidden there and was about to insert the pick through the keyhole when we heard faint noises coming from the other side. That stopped me and I moved my position, my back now against the wall right near the door. I glanced over at Heero who was leaning against the same wall across from me on the other side of the door, his gun also drawn and positioned near the side of his cheeks, safety off just like me.

We remained silent for the next couple of minutes; both trying to make out what was said on the other side of the wall. But all I heard was a bunch of murmurs and a pair of footsteps every once in awhile. I took a quick glimpse over at him and by the look on his face, he was unsuccessful too. However, from what we could perceive, we could tell that there were two only people occupying the other room since there were only two distinguishable voices heard.

But that confirmation was soon erased once we heard a click of the turning of a doorknob on the other side and a door faintly creaking open before closing shut again. We didn't bother to go into hiding since the door we heard that opened was not the one that we were currently near. The door opened seemed to be one that was probably another door that led to the room inside. A new set of footsteps-- this one heavier than the other two --walked into the room, their boots making loud clanking noises against the metal floor. But that stopped when the man, they figured by the sound of its voice, spoke rather softly after a few moments of silence, but not soft enough that you couldn't hear it.

~ I've got the 25 tons of uranium you want, Lt. Kinyu. The shipment had arrived just about ten minutes ago. ~

= Good. Where are they located? =

~ Most of them are still at the docks. Your men are still loading `em onto the underground floor on this base. ~ the newcomer paused before continued again. ~ By the way….why *do* you want so much uranium anyways?… ~

= Simple….. Lemme ask you, Hajime-san. What's uranium best known and used for? =

After a moment of thought, we heard him reply. ~ To manufacture nuclear artilleries that can be operated to cause unlimited amounts of mass…destruction…. ~ he trailed off, now understanding the reason.

< Exactly… > the final occupant that was silent the whole time spoke. < With the layouts of these new prototypes in my hands here that we've come up with, I'm confident that those 25 tons of uranium will be able to precisely finish off those notorious gundams and their pilots once and for all. They wouldn't stand a single chance against us… And I'm certain we'll be rewarded to the highest degree once Treize and the other factions like Romafeller finds out that were have defeated those five damn rebels…permanently……and anyone else that gets in our way for that matter. >

I could almost feel those three bastards smirk in triumph, thinking that they're going to win and I didn't even bother to wipe the visible smirk on my face. You three've got it all wrong dude. Now that we know exactly what you guys plan to do, *we'll* permanently eliminate you guys when you least expect it and ya wouldn't even know what hitja. And I'll personally get rid of those uranium to boot.

~ And if they don't? You shouldn't underestimate them, you know. ~

= Oh, don't worry. It *will* work for sure because we've experimented on some gundanium armor already. If we weren't so sure that it'll work, we wouldn't have ordered so much uranium. =

< Hm… Well then. Lead the way. >

~ …This way. ~ We heard more footsteps walking away from our direction towards the other door after that. The door creaked once again as the footsteps subsided when the door closed shut with a click.

When I looked over at Heero again, amethyst clashed with Prussian blue. Handgun positioned and ready, he just gave me one simple nod and that was all I needed to be aware of, knowing exactly what to do.

With my back now away from the wall, I inserted the pick completely through the keyhole this time and unlocked the door with ease in less than a few seconds. I hid the pick by in the usual spot in my bundle of hair again before slowly opening the door a little bit, then swiftly opened it completely. I rapidly moved so that my back was to the opened door, gun aimed at any possible threat, ready to pull the trigger if need be. Heero had done the same but he was standing on the other side, half in and half out of the room. Our eyes quickly scanned the room for any threats. Other than the fact that the room was filled with a fairly large desk with a laptop near the far end of the corner with other cabinet files here and there, and a cockroach crawling on the wall, the room was empty.

We both ran towards the other door in silence, neither of my boots nor his tennis shoes making a single sound. However, if it'd not been for the fact that I had keen hearing senses, I would not have heard a very, very faint echoing sound that I couldn't locate where it came from. I immediately stopped in my tracks. But I wasn't the only one. Heero must've seen me halt `coz he did too after me, and immediately searched around for anything threatening. My ears picked up the now eerie silence that seemed to radiate around the room. Out of the corners of my eyes that had rapidly scanned the room once again, four hidden openings at the four diagonal intersections of the walls unlocked themselves from being camouflaged with the white tiled walls and before I knew it, about ten or twenty bangs rang out. Bullets sliced through the air aimed straight at us from all four corners. Knowing that firing our guns would do nothing against the onslaught of those bullets, we both flipped back up high into the air away from each other, barely escaping those deadly shits from piercing our skins and embedding them there that would most definitely and thoroughly kill us.

"Shimatta! This room is fulla traps!!" I growled in frustration.

Another two barely audible clicks reached my ears over the loud shots. I shot my glance up above. "K'so! This is just getin' better an' better isn't it?!"

Now another pair of guns had joined the other four, shooting down at us. But these two-- unlike the other four from each of the four wall intersections that were just shooting dead straight ahead --were specifically aiming and targeting us. Wherever we moved, they would follow us without slowing down their launches.

I gave a quick glance at Heero when I had just landed from my flip before rolling under the bullets that were shot horizontally to avoid the machine gun from above. He was doing a front-diving-jump over the horizontal bullets, going into a roll to avoid those stupid shits above like me. From what I could catch sight of in the quarter of a second when I examined the four weapons from the hidden openings, I could tell that they were programmed machine guns so they could be taken cared of. But I supposed they would've been easier to rid if there was actually someone who were firing at us instead. This way, all we had to do was take out those bastards and this episode would be over with. And in addition to that, we'd get ta snatch the machine guns as we go and we could use that to our advantage to just get the fuck outta here. ….But on the other hand, if there *were* actual people personally trying to kill us, then it'd be even harder to dodge the oncoming bullets since they wouldn't be just shooting dead straight. I sighed. Boy does this situation suck or what?

"I'll terminate those two up there and you terminate these four!" he ordered aloud over the loud gun shots.

"Gotcha!!" I shouted back over to him and then we both immediately went to work. We knew that if we didn't hurry, those damn Oz bastards were going to rush in here anytime soon and then we'd definitely be in deep shit. "Like as if weren't already…" I mumbled in annoyance.

I ran from the bullets that were trying to slaughter me from above towards the machine gun on the east corner of the room. While jumping up into the air towards the wall, I pulled the trigger two times at the machine gun that was closest to me, successfully killing that one. Yosha! One down, three ta go….

Without landing from my jump yet, my left foot first came in contact with the wall before I turned my head and body around without second thought. My right foot then followed my left and both legs gave a firm thrust forward. By this time, I set my gun targeting the machine gun diagonally across from the one I had just terminated and shot that one also twice to stop it from firing. I finished my soar into a roll and stopped till I was lying on my back.

It was then that I heard a few more gun shots contrary to the ones that the machine guns were shooting. When my eyes laid on my koi, he had pulled the trigger aimed above and the machine gun he was aiming at stopped for a split second but it didn't stop it from shooting though. Both guns from above were now strictly after Heero and when I looked closely, it was then that I saw two men were controlling those two. It would have been easy to eliminate them if not for the fact that the shooting coming from them had actually increased their speed in fire. K'so. Heero might be needing my help so I'd better get rid of those remaining horizontal two a.s.a.p.

Since the two Ozzies from above still weren't going after me, I took that chance to my advantage and shot the other I was supposed to terminate. Just as I did that, Heero was falling backwards just over the horizontal flying bullets, gun poised and aimed directly at one of the Ozzies. That one shot particularly stuck out from the others of the room and with a brief scream, the Ozzie died with a bullet embedded directly between his eyes. But before Heero landed with his back on the ground, I had been too late to warn him as a projectile grazed his skin. I knew it wasn't much at all that would really make his left arm a liability but no one hurts Heero Yuy and gets away with it if I have any say in it. And in this case, I did hava say in it. To articulate that I wasn't pissed was one fuckin' lie so I won't even go there, even though his arm was only bleeding a bit. It was kinda far from enough to be of any danger, was what my right minded told me but then again, my rage had momentarily blinded me.

Since my back was already against the tiled floor, I had long reasoned that the floor was indeed smooth and I had a simple `plan'-- if you can even call it one since it was very simple --to use that to my own benefit. With a propel of my legs against the cabinet drawer that was at the end of my feet, I slid backwards across the floor with very little effort. I had to thank my black leather jacket that I'd worn outside of my priest's outfit for that, which I was wearing at the moment that just made it all the easier. I first fired the programmed machine gun then altered my deadly accurate aim towards that bakayaro. Without any regrets or guilt, the last gunshot rang out in the room as the bakayaro had one last look of horror on his face before collapsing over, dead to the bone. "Bull's eye." I muttered. A sinister grin flashed across my own face when I'd seen the bullet implanted itself directly in its victim's kokoro.

Now satisfied, I first lifted my head a bit as the first thing in attempt to get up, later using my elbows as support. A few clicks to the left of me where Heero was at caught my attention, and my gaze was on Heero before you could even blink. Shock briefly overtook me-- which was immediately replaced by anger --when I'd seen that five unbelievably thick chains had already emerged from the specific openings from the wall Heero was standing in front of and wrapped themselves around his ankles, wrists, and neck once before jerking him against that wall without any mercy.

"Heero!!" I cried out in panic as I tried to come to my struggling koi's rescue.

However, my luck had run out on me when I missed the other clicks-- due to my panicked state --and suddenly felt chains wrapped themselves once around my left wrist and coarsely yanked me back down without warning. Before I could do anything else, I felt another set of chains bind my other wrist, ankles and then lastly, my neck as well. The force of the pull back towards the floor shook the gun out of my hand and out of my reach, like how Heero's did. All five chains tightened to hold me in place but not tight enough as to choke me to death or cut off my blood circulation. I struggled to possibly rip the fuckin' binds offa me but had no suck luck. Shimatta!! If I could just reach my other gun strapped on my lower leg, or maybe my knife tucked and hidden nicely in my thick hair or *something*, then maybe we'd actually have a chance of escaping, but-- ikeike!![1] I couldn't!!!

"K'so! K'so! K'so! We are *so* fuckin' dead!!" I thrashed about, trying my best to get free myself of these manacles but the only thing I was doing was just hurting myself even more since the more I struggled, the more they would dig into my flesh. They were all starting to sting but that was the least of my worries then. All five places were just nicely making decorations on the white tiled floor but I didn't give a fuck. I wasn't goin' get Heero or myself captured by Oz and we also had to warn the others to get the hell outta here. I looked to Heero, whom was also struggling, obviously unable to break free too.

"K'sotare![2]" He swore and I couldn't agree with him more.

The sound of the other door we were supposed to go through to get out of in the first place creaked, catching both of our attentions and we stopped struggling…for the moment. Three men-- probably in their early forties --smoothly walked in with smirks on their faces first, approximately twenty armed Oz soldiers filing in afterwards to boot.

"What a fabulous day tonight is, ain't it Kinyu?" My eyes narrowed to slits as I glowered darkly at the man who had just spoke. I recognized that that man's voice was one of the three that we'd been listening to earlier. So the other two guys would be the remaining two, I reckoned. And I wasn't the only one who'd figure that one out either, I noticed.

"Yes indeed, Benson, yes indeed." the fucker smirked and crossed his arms. "You gundam pilot scums fell right into our trap."

I gave a rather loud snort. No shit, fucker. No need to mention the obvious. We ain't some shit heads that're stupid enough not ta figure that out already. I was seriously tempted to say that out loud. It'd make `em look like one heckuva fucked up idiot, but…correct me if I'm wrong….it'd make us look a bit bad too so I didn't. Damn.

Heero had stayed completely silent, not making a shingle sound. Smart. Now why couldn't I've done that? I inwardly snorted. Then I wouldn't *be* the self-proclaimed Shinigami if I'd just went and did that now, would I?… Nope.

"What'yer problem, boy?" Kinyu-- I figured that that was him --questioned me as he walked over. I `hned' and turned my head, the best that I could, away from him, knowing all to well that that'd only anger him even more. And that was *exactly* my intention. Hmph. Let the mother fucker get pissed off. Sure I was being Heero's mirror image at the moment but I'd be damned if I was going to please `im by complying with him or any one of them at all.

I felt his booted foot painfully slam right into my right side and I just grunted, refusing to display any pain to them. Yes, that fuckin' hurted but I've been through a whole lot worse.

I could almost feel Heero's silent scream in trepidation and ferocity but his face showed no emotion whatsoever. "Answer me, ya damned colony trash!" he screamed.

This time though, I decided to give `im an answer to that, but only to get him pissed off more of course. I raised my brow with a half-naïve look. "At the moment?" I didn't wait for him to answer as my half-naïve expression changed to an arrogant smirk. One word had said it all ta completely tick him off. "You."

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw that I wasn't the only one smirking. And that just helped me boost up my pride and my self-esteem even though we're the ones that're captured at the moment.

Kinyu narrowed his eyes darkly at me but I was unfazed by his glare as I ignored my side pain at the present time. He, however, did draw his revolver though and I thought he was going to kill me then and there. I didn't want to die but it didn't look like I could do anything at the moment to stop him if he was going to kill me anyways. My smirk never faltered.

He snarled. "Fuckin' rebels." He then kneeled down next to me and hit my head with the butt of the gun brutally before I even knew it. My head was throbbing awfully and now, I can feel the crimson fluid trickle down my forehead and the side of my face as my vision began to lose its function on me…not to mention my wits at the moment as well.

`At least we've got the last remaining two of them five.' was the last thing I heard one of them say before the darkness had completely claimed me. K'sotare. We're *really* in deep shit now.

02~*~02~*~02~*~02~*~02~*~02~*~02~*~02

Zelgadis stole a worried glance at his friend who was to the left of him. "Lina…daijoubu desu ka?"

For the first few minutes, the redheaded sorceress didn't answer him, he noted. She bit her lip and as he could see, she seemed to be having an inner debate about something…whatever it was, he had no idea about. Sure she was still walking, I mean, as was he, but to her, it was as if she were in her own little world… Ok, scratch that out. She *was* in her own little world at the moment and was oblivious to everything that was around her including a certain chimera that was trying to snap her back to reality by waving his hands in front of her spaced out ruby orbs. He sighed after several attempts of getting her attention which also included in calling out her name but the dra matta was just too deep in her thoughts to notice him so he decided to give up and just let her snap out of her own little world by herself…whenever that was, that is.

After the defeat of Dark Star, the raven-haired sorceress had declared that as the Seryuun no hime, she needed to start taking responsibilities for the kingdom of Seryuun and help her `otousan' run it as well. Gourry also admitted that he missed Syphiel a lot and said that he wanted to go and see her. Then he said that since he and Amelia wanted to leave, he would gladly escort the raven-haired hime back to her city before heading out to Sairaag….alone. The chimera could tell that Lina was going to say that she would go with him too, but when he said -that- word… she knew she wasn't invited so she hadn't said anything about going. She also had a feeling that Gourry liked Syphiel even though he never said it, and to say at the least, Lina was devastated. After all, she did have a thing for him too. But Lina being Lina, hid it well….anou...good enough that the clueless blonde didn't have a clue as to what she felt about him that is.

Zel, on the other hand, had already planned to leave earlier-- before Amelia and Gourry had announced their departing that is --to go out once again looking for his cure but when he saw how broken Lina looked after the announcement-- even though she tried to hide it under the façade--, he decided otherwise. So now here they were, only the two of them walking down an abandoned path with a bunch of trees around them…not so much that they couldn't see the beautiful views and sceneries though.

Lina hesitantly turned to her cursed friend. "…Eto Zel?"

"Hm?" he nodded for her to continue and she did so…but not before taking a deep breath and keeping her eyes glued to the ground.

"….Zel….. I haven't been completely honest with you…with all of you actually. You know Amelia, Syphiel…..er…basically everyone. It's not I ever brought up the topic about this or nothing but…still…." She turned her gaze up to him to see what his reaction was but he remained indifferent. However, she could see a tiny hint of understanding in his eyes which was the only thing that encouraged her to go on instead of stopping right then and there.

"….Y'see… I…I'm not from around here." this time, he looked a bit puzzled but didn't say anything, waiting for her to finish what she was going to say before he commented on anything. "What I mean is…I'm not from *this* world…. You know… like Arumace is from another worl--."

He cut her off. "I know, I know. I'm not Gourry you know." Lina chuckled at that remark but then that chuckle faltered a bit into a bitter one as she heard him speak of that name. She inwardly shook her head, replacing the sorrow with a plastered smile. Zel just realized what he had said and gasped. The mask she had on was good, but not good enough to fool him. He inwardly cursed himself for even bringing `him' up. "Ore…Gomen nasai Lina. I didn't mean to--."

Now it was her turn to interrupt him. "Gomen? What for Zel? If it's about Gourry then don't need to be. I'm perfectly fine with the fact that he wanted to go see Syphiel alone, ok? Don't sweat it, man." She shook her head and smiled, trying to cover up her pain and sorrow.

He most certainly knew that all this that Lina said was an act and he wasn't about to be fooled that easily. "Lina--." But he was cut off again.

"Ok, now where was I?" She didn't necessarily mean to ask that question to him. To nobody in particular in fact. When Zel saw that she no longer wanted to discuss the former situation, he just left it at that,… for then that is.

She snapped her fingers. "Ah yes!" she sighed and then spoke to him seriously. "Like I said, I ain't from this world at all…. I was transported here when I was 7 years old… Where I come from, magic is not common." She frowned. "Not common at all in fact from what I know… So I betcha if we were to use magic there, some of them would probably go nuts and think *we're* the ones that're mazokus and stuff like that, ya know…And I know that it would *not* be a good idea if we were to do magic there." she chuckled as did he, totally agreeing with her on that one. "…Instead, back at home…they have advanced technology and all…." He gave her puzzled expression. Well, in a way he understood, but in a way he didn't. She let out a sigh. "Ok, for example…like you know those guns that Jillas used on us and the bombs and stuff?" He nodded. "My world mainly has those but much, much more advanced. The ones that Jillas used aren't even compared to what we…or rather they use. There are a whole mess of other things that are advanced as well but I do not want to go into details. Half, or maybe even more than half the stuff there, aren't used around here. Uh uh." she shook her head, then pausing. "Hmm…..Oh! There are also colonies in space where people can live or travel from Earth-- that's the name of the planet it's called that we…or rather `they' live on.--"

"What do you mean by `they' and not `we' as in you guys?" Zel asked confusedly.

"Anou, that's `cause I've never been to Earth where the resources and stuff are actually natural and not artificial. Where I live, all that stuff is artificial… I grew up on a colony, L2,..anou….at least, `that' colony cluster is called L2. Our supposedly weather and the `sunlight' and all are all artificial." she said putting emphasis when she said sunlight. She sighed. "Now that sucks… It was actually here that I had been able to see the sun and the weather and stuff naturally." She simply got an 'oh' as a reply from Zel. "Let's see……… Oh yea! There are also large, and I mean *large*…like 16 or 17 meters tall, 7 or 8 tons mechas that people pilot to fight in battles and stuff… Y'see, there's a war back home…" she paused, biting her lip and thinking. "..Ano…at least there was one."

"Hmm….I'm not even sure if the war is over or if it's still going on…." She had that faraway look in her eyes, Zel noticed. But then she just shook her head and sighed. He remained silent as usual, not exactly knowing what to say. "……I'm actually a war orphan, y'know… I don't even remember my family…not that it bothers me or nothin' y'know." she quickly added. "However, they constantly use those mechas-- called mobile suits that is….always hurting those innocent civilians that have nothing to do with the war. I mean, sometimes they would just literally hurt people for the fuck of it y'know and I can't tell you how much that pisses me off." her eyes flashed in anger as she clenched her fists. Zel narrowed his eyes as he imagines all those helpless people being tortured and killed for no reason. That angered him as well.

Looking at Lina, he can't say that she hasn't hurt any civilians and all before. But *she* was different from those that Lina had described. The red-headed sorceress may have one helluva temper but whether she wanted to admit it or not, he knew that she had a good heart too. He inwardly snorted. But knowing Lina, she'd go through all seven hells and back before she'd ever admit _that_ to anyone. But seriously though… even though Lina wouldn't *really* help anybody unless it was necessary or because she would get money in return…, he knew that she would never hurt people for the fun of it. Now anyone pissing her off…that was another matter……

"…Those mobile suits are pretty dangerous y'know. Anou, depending on which model it is I mean. Some more or so than others. Each type of mobile suit built has the ability to be able to use the various armaments, whichever ones that the mechanics installed in or with them. There's a whole mess of dangerous armaments and I'd say I'd be lying if I told you that I knew all of them considering the fact I was only a kid back then and the top priority for us `street rats', as they called us, was…survival."

"So…that means that you lived on the streets then?" he asked with sympathy. She just shrugged, and he knowing her, knew that was a yes. "…Was it…was it difficult?"

"Yea it was, trying to always find food and all just to survive the day but I'd say at the same time, it helps me…." she grinned. "…build up my `skills'." she then smirked at that one.

" `Skills?' " he asked with a tint of curiosity and amusement in his voice.

"Yep… And that, Zelgadis Graywords,…is stealth and cunningness." he raised his eyes, obviously saying `oh?' and for her to continue. "You've got to be swift, clever, and sly if you plan to survive on the streets, Zel. And you should obviously know that I've certainly got `em since I'm standing here before you right now." she stated proudly, crossing her arms and lifting her head a bit higher. He chuckled at that, which just made her grin go wider.

If Zel would have said at the moment that he wasn't proud and didn't, at the least bit, admire her, then I can as sure as hell tell you that that is one big, damn helluva lie. He didn't trust his voice for he knew he would just might start praising her so he just smirked, obviously meaning that he had respected the younger sorceress. (As if he didn't more or so already…) It wasn't that he didn't or wouldn't want to praise her; it was just that, she would never let him hear the end of it if she knew. He inwardly sighed at that embarrassment as he pictured her constantly making remarks about that in his mind. Not that he *really* mind and all but still….

"…Ok, now back to the topic before…the armaments of the mobile suits, ne?" not exactly waiting for an answer, she continued. "The only ones that I know of are….let's see…….the machine cannon, beam saber, missiles and torpedoes, flamethrower, and a beam cannon… However… I still think that compared to magic… magic is more powerful…."

She paused and then thought about that. Her face soon scrunched up in a frown. "…anou, on the other hand…I guess it kinda depends on which magic spell you use and which armament the mobile suit is using against the magic, if y'know what I mean…" he nodded in understanding. "……But… there *is* magic there, ya know. Just very, very….and I seriously mean *very*, few people know about such from what I've seen and know…. The majority has no clue about magic there. I'm telling you this because… well….. To tell you the truth, Zel……" She turned her gaze to him. "I don't exactly want to stay here anymore….Er--what I mean is, I miss home y'know. I have a friend back home and I really miss him a lot. I haven't seen him for…around 9 years I think and I guess I just wanna see him again."

Zel cringed when she said that she missed someone, namely a guy, back home but he just nodded again. "I understand." he felt a little heart broken but hid that well. He knew for a fact that she wouldn't have mentioned anything about her past if Gourry was here. He also knew that she missed him terribly but there was no way that they would end up together so she wanted to leave. Leave this place that was full of bad memories that would just constantly haunt you and never leave you alone.

"You wanna come, Zel?…I mean, you don't have to or nothing, ya know. It's perfectly fine with me. I mean, you'd probably want to keep searching for your cure, ne? Aa.. That's probably what you want to--"

"Lina…" he cut her off 'cause he personally knew she was rambling… He inwardly smirked. That stopped her chattering alright. "..can I ask you something?"

She smirked, snorting at the same time. "You just did." He frowned at her, making her burst into a fit of laughter. "Juuuuuus' kidding stone boy." she stuck her tongue out at him, teasing him.

He glared at her but she just brushed it off as nothing. "I have been thinking a lot about this. I mean, I have been looking for years and I still haven't found a single *real* cure for my chimera form and I wonder if there *is* any out there……" he trailed off.

"Of course there is Zel! I just know that there's got to be a cure out there for you!" she turned away from him and looked out into the world, a smile on her face, her hands on her hips. He watched as the wind blew her beautiful in the wind when she turned around and gave him a cheery smile. "I know you want that cure really badly and I'll be glad to help you find it!!" she gave him a victory sign plus a kawaii wink to boot.

He shook his head. "Arigato Lina. Really… But like I already said… I have thought a lot about this situation and I wanted to ask you…. Do…Do _you_ mind that I look like this? At all I mean."

Her lips curved up into a genuine smile and he felt his heart skip a beat. She placed her hand on his shoulder. He resisted the urge to tense under her gentle touch but failed to do so. "Relax…." he heard her melodious voice, slowly letting out a breath he didn't even know he was holding and eased. "…Of course I don't Zel. I mean, I thought that since *you* wanted the cure so badly that's why I was helping you search for it…" she then paused and thought for a moment, which she have been doing a lot lately…and soon a chuckle filled his ears. "I know this sounds really corny and all but… what you look on the outside isn't what matters…it's what you look on the inside that counts." she stated proudly but with sincerity as well.

He face faulted. "Lina! *You*, of all people, should NOT be saying that!!" she flashed him a grin.

"Yea I know but it just seemed right to say at the moment!!……" his shoulders slumped, his face dropping to a frown. "…But honestly though…I do mean that…stone boy." that earned yet another glare from him and she couldn't help but burst into laughter….again. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding….. But what I said earlier, you know that I really do mean it, ne?" she paused. That just deepened his frown, not really believing her. But somewhere deep in his heart, he truly did. She sighed…rather loudly. "Ok,…how should I say this?….Ah! Put it this way….I wouldn't know what to think if you were any different than you are now. Than the Zel you are that I know all too well. I don't care how you look Zel… Uh…What I mean is….whether you look like this or back to your human self, it doesn't matter to me. As long as you never change the way you are right now… ya know… your personality and stuff…. If you are to change that if you're human again… than to the tell you the truth, I would really much prefer you the way you are right now. As long as you…Zelgadis Graywords, never change…anything you do is fine with me. I'll be with you 100% and you can count on me to always back you up no matter what!!" She flashed him a wide grin and her victory sign.

He smiled at her. He really did this time. A true, genuine smile out from his heart. He could tell that she truly meant it just by looking at her eyes and he was really grateful to have such a great friend like her. "Arigato Lina…. That really helps a lot. And now hearing that, you're right. I'm not even sure if I will act any different if I was human again and if I do, then I don't want the cure…." he paused before continuing, slapping his fist into his other hand in the palm. "Ya know what?"

"Nani?" she placed her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side. He inwardly smiled at that. She just looked soooo kawaii like that, all innocent and un-Lina like. Anou… not that he minded Lina being herself but…moments like these were absolutely rare coming from Lina and he just had to keep that pose memorized. It took all of Zel's will just to break eye contact with her and try not to blush at the same time. He also did *not* want to make himself look like an idiot in front of her. If she saw him blush, all hells'll break loose for he would *never* hear the end of it from her.

But….it was *not* an easy thing to do. Seems more utterly impossible in fact…you know, to snap out from staring into those beautiful scarlet depths that could get you lost in them for eternity and never want to surface again. But fortunately, or unfortunately-- depending on the way you see it --he somehow, reluctantly managed to do so. Though, when he did, a wave of mixed emotions of disappointment and relief washed over him not making him feel any better. But he just couldn't fight back the blush though and luckily for him, he turned away just in time before she was ever given the chance to see it.

She blinked at him in confusion at to why he would suddenly turn away like that but she just shrugged it off as nothing, not really wanting to figure anything out then. And boy was he ever glad that she didn't notice so he cleared his throat a split second later when he felt his head cool down. Gourry was such a fool to let someone as amazing as Lina go like that. Sure, she did have her bad qualities,……*very* bad qualities that is….but then again, she wouldn't *be* the Lina Inverse he had grew to love, respect, and admire if she wasn't her…if she wasn't whole. He wouldn't know what to think if she wasn't the way she was then. "…Thanks to you, I have just decided that I no longer need, iya… want the cure. As long I have friends like you, it doesn't matter at all." A long pause followed after. "Now I do believe that you said you missed a friend of yours back home, ne?… Why don't we go see him?… `Sides, I *am* curious as to what your world looks like…" he nodded. "And from what I've heard from you so far… it sounds quite……fascinating."

"Oi! Great idea!" she slapped him on the back. "Itai!" but she immediately regretted it as she took back her hand and began shaking it, the stinging pain on her hand. Shoot! How would you feel if you just smacked your hand pretty hard against a rock?…. Exactly. He chuckled at her and she glared at him.

A frown then crossed her face a few seconds later. "But how do we do that? The first time I came here, L-sama transported me here….I think. How--"

"Chotto matte yo Lina….. `L-sama' transported you here??!!!" he asked astonished but then got his act together again, a frown now etching his features. "And how come you never told us this?" He asked with a twitching raised eyebrow.

"Oi! I said I `think' L-sama brought me here!" she raised her voice, hands on her hips as if trying to `overpower' him. "And even `if' it was L-sama, how the heck in Cephied's name should I know why she'd gone and do that? Jeez, Zel! You'd expect me to know every shit in the world!!" she shouted, obviously irritated. He just snorted and said nothing. Lina calmed down before speaking moments later. "And as for the second question…I didn't think it was really important and all that I had to announce it to the whole world, ok?"

He seemed to be satisfied with the answer. But whether or not that was the real reason for his not questioning any further, he sure didn't show it. To her, it seemed more as if he knew the horrific outcome if she was angered or getting even more annoyed than she already was and he had just decided to leave that topic be…which, of course, she was very grateful for…or she would've been `forced' to just fireball him at the moment.

"……There's also something that I don't understand…" he spoke after a moment of silence, or rather after seeing her more calmed than previously. "...If you were transported here, then that means that your real last name isn't Inverse, right?…or…Is Lina even your real name?…"

She nodded. "You're right about my last name not being Inverse… And I believe I already mentioned I was a war orphan back home, ne?" he nodded. "Eto…ever since I could remember, I could only remember the name Lina. But even *I'm* not still sure if that's my real name or not. I thought it felt right so I just stuck with it… Which basically means I don't exactly have a real last name…. I decided on Inverse since Luna'd taken me in two weeks after I got here." She actually smiled at that thought. "….I remember the first time I met her. I was running around and stealing food to survive and she was kind enough to adopt me. Hehehe. I think that was one of the few nice things she ever did for me." She chuckled yet shivered at the same time when she remembered all those horrible things Luna did to her as punishment.

"Oh.. I see." He said with a smile of amusement, raising his eyebrows at the same time. And it was silent again………but that silence wore off a few minutes later. "Now the same question still remains unanswered…. How the hell do we get back?……"

"……….Hmm…. I was just thinking…. So after all that you've said…that means that you're from another dimension ne?"

She nodded, semi-deep in thought. "I guess so now that I think about it….. Nande?"

"Ano…Since the Ragna Blade can cut through anything including the Astral Plane…"

She gasped in delight, knowing exactly what he was saying. "--then that means that it might just be able to cut through dimensions!" she finished for him., slapping a fist into her other hand at the same time. "Gee, why didn't I think of that?!…" he rolled his eyes. "Ano, we don't know for sure but it wouldn't hurt to try, ne?" she winked at him. And he chuckled at that. "Yosha! I'll give it a try then!"

She closed her eyes and concentrated with all her might. Zel took a few steps away from her, just in case. She positioned her hands before her.

"Lord of the Darkness and Four Worlds,

I beseech thy fragments…

By all of the power thou possesseth,

grant the heaven's wrath into my hands!

Unleash the sword of dark, freezing nothingness,

by our power, our combined might…

Let us walk as one along the path of destruction!"

Her eyes snapped open as the sword of darkness materialized in her hands. Turning her gaze up to the sky, she jumped up into the air, the sword above her head. "Ragna Blade!!" Using all of her force with her mind on her home and her friend back home, she brought the blade down swiftly, slicing it through the air, through the Astral Plane and hopefully through the dimensional plane. She landed in a crouch on the ground and the blade disappeared into thin air. The air and surrounding around them was silent yet once again, on the sudden breeze around them could be heard. Lina was the first to break the silence.

"Did it work?" Zel didn't answer but it wasn't as if Lina was expecting him to anyways. Just as Lina were about to give her hopes up, a sparkle flickered through the air where she had sliced through the planes. More sparkles of lightning followed and the duo watched in delight when the long `crack' in the dimensional plane slowly opened. "Zel! It worked!! It really worked!!" Lina shouted happily to her friend. She then ran over to him and pulled him by the wrist. "C'mon! Before it closes!!" He let her drag him along and with the count of three, the sorceress and the chimera jumped through the opening. The opening closed up right after and with faint sound of birds chirping in the air, the whole place seemed as if no one had even occupied there just seconds ago…

02~*~02~*~02~*~02~*~02~*~02~*~02~*~02

All along, Zel hadn't even known he had closed his eyes, much less when he did so. He slowly opened them again the second he felt solid ground beneath him and when he was sure that he wasn't moving-- or rather falling…towards somewhere… --anymore. He had to blink a few more times before he could get his vision into focus and soon found himself studying the unfamiliar surroundings.

From as far as what he could tell, he figured that he must be in some sort of abandoned, wrecked down shelter that was probably *ages* old. The place was just completely empty, not counting the dust bunnies and cob webs with those damn arachnophobias and those two or three inches cockroaches running around somewhere in this wreckage of course. The relatively standard sized room should have been completely dark, had not been the showers of light that penetrated through the various sections of the roof and walls of this run-down place.

Suddenly, his mind finally clicked and he just remembered about Lina. Even though his eyes had scanned the place once, he couldn't help but scan them again. <<Nothing. Shimatta, she's not here! Where the hell could she be? Hells, where the heck am I??? Kiisama!!>> he growled in anger. "Nice going Zelgadis. How could you be so stupid as to not check or see if she was here with you in the first place??!!" he shouted to himself. "…wherever *here* is that is."

He scowled but then sighed in frustration and loathe at himself. "…Just please be alright…" He walked in a relatively bit more than normal pace towards the double doors-- or rather the only standing door left from the double doors and was about to step outside when he saw a few people walking on the sidewalks and he paused in his tracks immediately stepping back in.

<<Lina mentioned that for the majority of the people back in her real home, if they were to see other people use magic, they'd think that we were the mazokus instead…… I'm not sure if this is even her dimension or not… If it was and they saw *me*, they would think I'm a mazoku too…. And now is definitely *not* the time to attract attention. That will just distract me from my search.>> he paused to think a bit more before nodding. <<Aa, I think it'd be a great idea if I just put on my mask and hood again.>>

He just did so and then stepped out onto the streets again, eyes scanning closely for his missing friend as he quietly continued down the streets. Sure enough for him people gave him weird looks but nothing more than hat, which he was grateful for. It could be that he seemed suspicious but then again, it could be his outfit. Looking at these strangers, they wore regular plain shirts and pants, nothing fancy and all like in their world. He set those thoughts aside and focused on one target: to find Lina as soon as he can. <<Where're you Lina? Are we even in the same dimension??…I truly hope so………… I know you can take care of yourself, quite well in fact but…. still…just *please* be careful and be okay.. If not for me, then for yourself…..>>

02~*~02~*~02~*~02~*~02~*~02~*~02~*~02

Lina began to stir from her just previously unconscious state as a barely audible groan escaped between her slightly parted lips. Using one hand to hold her head as if to rid the headache that seemed to want to drill a hole in her head-- which didn't exactly work --, her other hand was used to support her light weight up to an upright position from formerly lying on solid concrete beneath. "Ugh… What in L-sama's name happened?…" she asked no one in particular while she shook her head as to waken herself more and blinked a few times.

With her headache now slowly fading away, she recalled what last occurred and took in her surroundings.

…..She was in an empty alleyway, that's fer sure. But it looked different yet familiar at the same time. She didn't know. The whole place just seemed familiar somehow. She walked forward, just looking around the place. "Yep, it does seem familiar. But how so?…"

A couple of kids in ragged clothing ran by looking at her weirdly and curiously. Those kids struck her memories and she froze. <<It…worked?… did it really work? Am I really back in L2??>> she snapped back and she turned around, looking at those eight kids that looked to be sonly six or seven years old. "Oi!" she called out with kindness to them. They stopped running and slowly turned around, face visible with hesitation. "Anou…" but before she could say even more, they all pulled back in trepidation and Lina knew that they were going to run away from her. "Chotto matte kudasai!!…" but they turned to run.

"I mean no harm. I just want to ask a question…" she said with sincerity. They halted again, and even more slowly than before-- if that was even possible --gave her a suspicious look.

"I mean it." she paused for a second before speaking again. "I know what it's like to be living on the streets like you guys. I honestly mean no harm." they turned to one another and exchanged an inaudible conversation before turning back to look at Lina, one of them-- probably the leader of them --nodding. "As you can see," she looked down at her clothing, "I'm obviously an outsider." they remained silent. "…So umm… I was wondering, where exactly am I?"

The same boy that nodded before spoke with hesitation. "……on the L2 colony cluster." Lina's face immediately lit up when she heard this. <<It was true! She _did_ make it back. Casting the Ragna Blade *had* worked just like Zel had suggested!!>> but then her smile soon faded, replaced with fear. "Zel!!!! Oh no!! Where's he??!! I didn't see him with me when I awoke! Where could he be??!" she shouted in panic looking all around. <<If Zel made it too, he wouldn't exactly know what to do here!! And he would certainly stand out as well…. Damn. Gotta go find him.>>

She hadn't known that her outburst had frightened the kids until she was about to go searching for them and saw them running away from her from the corner of her eyes. She immediately turned back to them. "Oh no!! Matte!! Matte kudasai!! I just want to thank you for helping me!!" that last line stopped them.

When they had seen that she reached behind her back to get something, they thought she was going to kill them, all expressions of horror and regret filled their faces. But when they saw her take out her money bag and took out half of her gold and jewels-- which was rather a lot --they thought otherwise, immediately calmed down and sighed with relief.

Lina smiled. She knew how tough and difficult it was to try and obtain food just to feed yourself, much less someone else, for a single day. She knew that you didn't always had that much luck to get food every day and by the looks of it, those kids appear to probably not have had any food for a day or two. She strode over to them and they cowered but she only smiled a gentle smile as to try and show them that she really meant no harm to them. Once standing in front of the leader who although seemed as scared as the others, tried to stay bold and protect them as well. She couldn't help but admire that in him as she crouched down so that she was the same height as him.

"Here." she held out the gold and jewels with both hands in front of her. "For you guys. For helping me by answering the question I asked you guys." they gasped in shock and then confusion, probably as to why someone would be so nice to them. After all, living on the streets, it was extremely rare that someone would actually give a fuck about you. You had to watch your own back `coz no one was going to help you when you are in need of assistance. Whether you were starving to death, dying of some sort of virus you were infected with, getting beaten to death, or being raped for that matter, they wouldn't give a fuck. They already had to deal with striving to stay alive themselves, and that was complicated enough, they wouldn't risk themselves for you. Unless there was actually someone really nice enough to take you in their home (yea right), that was how life was as a street rat. No one would hire you to work in their shops because they'd all just see you as dirty, filthy pickpockets…half the times even as "useless,-good-for-nuthin-rats-that'd-only-take-up-precious-food-`humans'-n eed". Whether or not you had actually accepted that, you still had to live by that and try to get around it to get food and water.

Lina knew life like that, but only thing lucky about her though. She wasn't alone. She had a friend that stuck with her, just as she had stuck with him through thick and thin. No matter what, she had stuck up for him, as he did for her. And she truly missed him. Before, when she had just gotten to Zephilia, she wanted so badly to go back here but she had no way. It all seemed impossible but now that she had found a way, she was determined to find her friend and reunite again no matter what the cost.

She took the leader's hands, opened them and placed the treasures in both of his palms. "I know that the people here actually use cash and not gold coins and jewels but these aren't not worth nothing so…."

"Arigato gozaimasu!!" they all exclaimed with delight and she was taken aback when they had actually tackled her-- making her fall one her ass --in a group hug. She smiled and returned their embrace. "I think you guys should get going. You all seem really starved."

They all pulled back and nodded, all their faces filled with smiles, some of them actually crying in happiness. With a wave of sayonara, they ran away again, thanking her once more. She sighed in content and got up brushing the dirt from her behind.

As she exited the alleyway, she received weird and suspicious looks from the colonists as she walked down the streets but she ignored them. She had to find Zel first and then they'll both look for her childhood friend. "..But what if he's already….dead?" she softly said the last word. But the quickly shook her head. "Iya. He wouldn't…couldn't be dead. He's strong, I know he is. And I know that he's survived this far. I just know it!" she tried to convince herself. For the time being, it worked and she continued her search. Since L2 wasn't exactly small, she only hoped that she was able to find any of them. But if she was lucky, she would actually be able to find them both…soon.

A broadcast on the public `television' appeared, making the colonists stop in their tracks. But they weren't the only one, Lina did too. A lady in an Oz uniform with glasses, and two brown-haired braided ponytails in low buns appeared on the screen, obviously ready to make a speech of some sort. <<Oz…>> Lina recognized from the insignia on the uniform. <<…She doesn't look very nice.>> she snorted and stayed quiet to listen to the speech.

[Greetings colonists and colony rebels. As the recognized officer, Lieutenant Une of the Oz foundation, I wanted to inform all of you that we have succeeded in capturing the notorious gundam pilots. That's right. All five gundam pilots in our grasps that go by the names of: gundam pilot zero one- Heero Yuy. zero two- Duo Maxwell. zero three- Trowa Barton. zero four- Quatre Raberba Winner. and zero five- Chang Wufei.]

Une's face disappeared and separate pictures of each pilot in whole form appeared one by one on the screen. Lina gasped, a hand brought to her mouth, as she specifically stared at one picture of the pilots all equally in disbelief, surprise, shock, and eventual joy. "It…It's him isn't it?" she asked no one in particular. "……Hai. It _must_ be him. Just taller, face looking older than before (obviously), but he looks just about the same as before… Same hair, same eyes…." her face immediately lit up. "Hai…. He even went by that name too! It's got to be him!" she convinced herself, her hopes rising ten fold. Then the pictures vanished and Une's face was on again.

[…Even though they are all professional terrorists, we know that they are not the ones that they are not the masterminds of the planned attacks. I mean, we know that there are others are the ones that are ordering them to attack us. By that fact, you guys must know exactly where the gundams are concealed….. We are warning you all right now. You either show your face to us at our Oz foundation before sundown tomorrow and tell us the wanted information or I'm afraid that your…highly trained mass murderers will have to suffer the consequences for your god forsaken actions. If you fail to comply to our demands, then the second the sun sets tomorrow evening, a public execution of all five gundam pilots will take place in front of our foundation. And if it has come down to that terms…….than I guess we can just proudly announce the victor of this war will be Oz since your best men will fall short in looking at the daylights of the day after.]

With a smirk clearly on her face, the screen finally closed and the announcement was over. Chatting began to start right after but Lina was oblivious to that all. With clenched fists, Lina glared darkly at the black screen, or rather who was last seen on it just previously and who she represented. "Oz." she seethed in anger. "Damn bitch." she normally didn't cuss but right then, she was way beyond pissed. She had just found her friend-- or at least she really thought that it really was him --and now, he and four others were going to be executed tomorrow at sundown. I mean, to be executed was already bad enough but to be so *publicly* that would just only bring dishonor and humiliation to them??!! They've gone way too far. All hell's gonna break loose if she was going to just stand by and watch that happen. She may have been kinda confused and slightly shocked earlier when that Une-ikeike mentioned that all five of those *teenagers* had been professional terrorists, but then, she didn't give a fuck. After all, with a such a damned coercing organization such as Oz-- which she'd always loathed even when she was just small because of their purposes for starting the war --she'd probably be exactly like those death defying teens and become a terrorist herself and attack those damned sonuva bitches[3] too.

Lina walked away and down the streets in silence lost in her thoughts. Whether or not those people that that ikeike had mentioned would actually show up or not with the wanted information on where those mobile suits-- gundams --were concealed at, she had no clue. And she couldn't depend and risk those five lives by praying that they would actually show up. So then…she would just have to take matters into her own hands, wouldn't she? Yep, and that was exactly what she was going to do. However…using magic wasn't an option since she couldn't attract attention-- unless she were to do it in private or something --so she would just have to do it the old fashioned way. (Unconsciously, she patted the sword by her side.) And even if she did use magic, it might still not be the brightest of ideas. In spite of everything, all you needed to do to shoot somebody was to easily pull the trigger and bang, they're dead…which is so unlike magic. Even if you *are* a sorcery genius and know it even better than the back of your hand, like Lina, it still took time-- even the *tiniest* bit --to cast a spell and launch it at somebody. So sometimes, even magic is not enough to defeat somebody if you are not quick enough.

It wasn't going to be easy-- infiltrating into a heavily guarded base (apparently) and then saving them all too --but it had to be done, she the one most likely to do it. And she was determined to accomplish that task no matter how great the odds were against her. She knew she'd have a greater chance of carrying this out if Zel were there to help her but she considering the short time she had at the present time, she had to use each ticking second left wisely if she planned to accomplish this mission. And thus, searching for Zel at the moment was *not* an alternative. She hated to do so but he would just have to wait. Her priority at that time was to save them first and then go find Zel afterwards……*if* she made it back out alive that is………

Ooh… how did you guys like that? I personally am going to *love* writing this ficcie!!!! So I really hope you guys review ok? Sankyou!!! But, I hope you guys aren't pissed that I left it at a cliffhanger there…. hehehe. Anou…if you guys wanna read more, then review, review, review!!!!! And I'll get more of this fic out!!!! haha. Bai bai!!!!

[1] ikeike: bitch.

[2] k'sotare: fuck.

[3] there's actually a word in Japanese for `son of a bitch' but seeing in this case I used it in more of the way of slang, I decided to use it in English. btw, `son of a bitch' in Japanese is: chikushoume.