SD Gundam Fan Fiction ❯ Nightmares ❯ Death And Destruction ( Chapter 1 )

Hi, just a little oneshot before I go off for the weekend to New Jersey. This was actually written before Apocalyptic when I was really, really depressed. Yeah. Read and enjoy. I read it again and I actually cried, so I decided to post it. Has no real continuity with either of my other stories, just a little filler.

 

Disclaimer: Do not own SD gundam. Go ingest a kazoo.

 

 

-STORY START-

 

There are a few questions about the mecha race that even the experts cannot answer. Despite programming and designing them from scratch, many `robots' are truly alive. When something gains sentient status, it breaks free of every restraint that its creators have put on it. Whether the created being continues to serve its creator or decides to reject its nature is entirely dependent on it's decisions. Most people do not realize that once something gains that aspect to it, it becomes a person. With it's own hopes, fears, fantasies

 

Even dreams.

 

This is one of these few questions that the experts are still puzzled by. Dreams, unconscious thought patterns, should not exist in mecha life. Dreams are the product of the idle human mind. Mecha, who by all rights should not follow the human definition of sleep and when not interactive are shut off on a timer or some other restart trigger, do not need to dream. Not many know, but they do.

 

Why?

 

That is for you to decide.

 

-@-

 

Closing one's eyes and drifting off to sleep is usually considered a sacred and utterly holy time. Even to a gundam, the time when one must not be actively operational is special. It's the time when their processors can cool, and run their internal screensavers in relief.

 

Just WHAT this screensaver is, often varies. For a simple mech, like a zako or a GM, it's often a simple vision of what happened that day or a seemingly random series of events. For a gundam or other more advanced mobile being, often the `screensaver' is much more complex, for their own programming is on par with the standards of the human subconscious.

 

Captain Gundam is no exception. Safe in his own room on the Gundamusai, he shut his weapons system off and proceeded to go into sleep mode for the `night'.

 

That `screensaver' is really something.

 

The real world faded out for Captain to a hazy scene of a large church, filled with people. Abruptly, he noticed all of them were wearing black, and all of a sudden a dark cloth was draped over his armor. It was a funeral, and he recognized most of the people there.

 

“We are gathered here today,” The man in the pulpit announced, barely holding back his woe “To honor the death of one of the bravest souls any world has ever seen. Courageous in the face of danger and ever bringing a ray of light to all he touched, his tragic death saddens us all. You may pay your respects.”

 

Creeping closer to the black coffin at the front of the room, he saw Sayla approach it with a basket of cake in her hand and tears in her eyes “I'm sorry you never got to have any… It's too late now… You have always been a wonderful friend, and even when things seemed hopeless you came through for us all. I'm so sorry I couldn't have been with you all the way… I hope you find rest…”

 

She ran off, sobbing.

 

“Truly touching words, Sayla.” The man in the pulpit sighed, dabbing away tears with his handkerchief. “It's a pity that the murderer had to hear it.”

 

The air seemed lifeless. There was not a sound in the room as every person in the room silently turned to face Captain Gundam.

 

“I am confused; please explain.” He stammered, completely bewildered. For some reason, a feeling of terror was building up deep inside of him and he had no idea why.

 

All in the room seemed to take a step forward, anger and tears in their eyes, as the black cloth drifted off Captain's shoulders to the ground in a slight draft. “Is this all you have to say, murderer? How can you kill a loved one and then say that you do not understand?!”

 

“But I…”

 

“I SHOULD HAVE NEVER TRUSTED YOU WITH HIM!” screamed the man, his face warping into that of Mark, Shute's father and he bellowed “CAPTAIN GUNDAM, YOU TRULY HAVE NO HEART!”

 

The boys and girls of Shute's class suddenly gained guns, pointed all at him. Sayla's cakes turned into grenades. Mayor Margaret sprouted a Ferris wheel out of her back, spinning dangerously. Eyes reddened as they advanced and in horror Captain realized he was in his civilian mode. He had no weapons. Completely defenseless.

 

And so, he ran out the door, screaming in horror all the way at the prospect of what he might have done

 

-@-

 

Shute twisted around in bed. Something brought him unease tonight, and he could not sleep.

 

In between counting the dots on the ceiling, he heard something

 

“No… please…”

 

Shute blinked and started fully awake “Huh?”

 

“Help… anyone… I didn't do anything…I could never…”

 

The sounds were coming from the room next to his. Captain's room.

 

“Captain?” Shute yawned and exited his room. Walking over to Captain Gundam's quarters he opened the door and peeked inside.

 

The gundam's voice was much louder now. “I didn't do it! I couldn't kill a human! Please, listen to me!”

 

There he was, twitching in his bed and eyescreens flashing dangerously.

 

“Are you okay?” the boy asked, walking up to his friend's bedside and shaking him “Captain, Captain, wake up! It's a bad dream, snap out of it!”

 

No avail.

 

The spasms became a little more violent “No! No! Please, anything but that! Help!”

 

“Captain!” Shute gasped, “Snap out of it!”

 

Once again nothing happened.

 

“No! Get away! I don't know what you're talking about!”

 

Shute realized the dire situation “Zero! Baku! Get in here! Captain's in trouble!”

 

-@-

 

“No! Get away!” Captain screamed to the slowly growing army of pursuers “I don't know what you're talking about!”

 

Running, running. He didn't care where. He didn't care how far. He just wanted to get away from this. Countless battles he had fought, but this just topped it all. He had never experienced terror like this before. It was almost enough to cause him to go insane.

 

He didn't notice the park's grass wither and die as he ran farther. He didn't notice the number of the army dwindle and collapse into the wilting ground. Trees shriveled up and disappeared and soon nothing was left but a barren wasteland.

 

The only thing you could see was the graves. There were hundreds of them, all neatly plotted out and marked with a tombstone. Slowing, Captain paused to read a few, but only ended up going faster afterward.

 

R.I.P.

Chief Haro and Mark Marxworth

Killed by Captain Gundam

 

R.I.P.

Guneagle

Killed by Captain Gundam

 

R.I.P.

Juli

Killed by Captain Gundam

 

R.I.P.

Bell Wood

Killed by Captain Gundam

 

R.I.P.

Keiko Marxworth

Killed by Captain Gundam

 

R.I.P.

Sayla

Killed by Captain Gundam

 

R.I.P.

Nana Marxworth

Killed by Captain Gundam

 

 

The list only grew as he wore on, the list of graves stretching out seemingly forever. Suddenly he could go no farther, and stopped in front of two graves side by side

 

R.I.P.

Zero of Lecroa

Killed by Captain Gundam

 

R.I.P.

Bakunetsumaru of Ark

Killed by Captain Gundam

 

“No… No…” Captain gasped “I didn't do it… I didn't do it…”

 

A ghostly, enraged voice erupted out of the first grave as a ghostly form of the winged knight, a clean bullethole through his forehead, rose out of the cold clay ground “Villian… You hath killed your own compatriots…”

 

“Traitor.” A spectral Bakunetsumaru sneered; his soulstone shattered “I even trusted you, foul dog…”

 

His pupils shrank as he turned and ran in fear, only to have the ground crumble into dust behind him. Captain Gundam just barely reached a circle of open ground before the crumbling world took him with it.

 

Out of a great fissure, a giant tombstone rose. Carved intricately with a pair of rollerblades hung over a corner, bold text emblazoned its message

 

R.I.P.

Shute Marxworth

Hero, Protector and Friend even in Betrayal

Killed By Captain Gundam

 

At the sight of this dominating his world, his heart broke. Dropping to his knees, he just stared in shock. It was impossible. But there it was. Tears welled in his eyes, defying the fact that he hadn't the means to properly make them and streamed down his faceplate. Abruptly, the bracket where his Soul Drive fit came open and spun faster, but there was a streak of black deep within it. Lifting his head to the empty heavens nothing short of a animalistic scream of anguish left him, echoing on the night

 

“SHUTE!!!!!!”

 

At once a deathly cold voice spoke fro behind him, sneering “You and I are very similar, Captain Gundam…”

 

“Get away!” Captain yelled, sorrow and rage flaring in his eyes to meet the form Of Commander Sazabi of the Dark Axis. His soul drive compartment was open as well, dark lightning sparking within “You only love to destroy!”

 

A chilling laugh echoed though the flat and desolate air “You destroy all you love. Tell me, is there much difference?”

 

“No… NO!!!!!”

 

-@-

 

“Shute, I do not think I can hold him much longer!” Bakunetsumaru groaned as he held Captain to the bed. His flailngs had become much more violent and severe and it required both Zero and Bakunetsumaru to hold him back

 

The winged knight just gasped “What is this devilry?! Nothing could make a gundam wretch so!”

 

“No! I'm not like you! Leave me alone!” Captain screamed in his sleep, twisting around and convulsing as if his very circuits were on fire.

 

Shute, by now, was crying. He had tried everything, and the technicians were asleep and unavailable. “Captain… please stop…” he sobbed, crawling on top of the gundam “It's okay, I'm here for you buddy…”

 

He cradled the gundam's head in a caring embrace, his tears meeting those of the gundam and falling on the cover of his soul drive.

 

With a click, the compartment opened to reveal a feverishly spinning orb, the swirling light inside seeming to struggle with a single thread of darkness within, and losing.

 

“No… Shute…” Captain groaned and tossed his head back, as if in wrenching pain.

 

At once Shute's tears fell harder as he sobbed, and reached down to touch the heart of his best friend. “I'm here for you, Captain…”

 

And his world went white.

 

-@-

 

“Leave me alone! I won't be like you! Never!”

 

The throbbing of Captain's soul drive grew more and more powerful as Shute's grave sunk into his mind, the image of his best friend limply lying to the side, cold and dead. The rest of the world had faded out, and that was all that remained. That icy stone grave and fresh red blood all over his hands was all that was left. Sazabi floated in the air, almost seeming to increase in size and power as he lay helpless in his misery. That black spark was starting to grow, threatening to make him one of the lost as well.

 

Sazabi seemed to loom over him, that sneer magnified to giant size “You already are… can you not see what you have done? We are the same; our bond transcends all worlds, gundam!

 

Captain didn't notice at first, but that black spark wavered. Something more was fighting it, and at first he did not know what. Soon all he could feel was something warm and soft on his breast, holding his soul gently.

 

“Get away from my friend!” Shute's voice rang out from nowhere, “Don't you dare hurt him, you jerk!”

 

With an echoing crack, the gravestone behind him split and two and sank into the ground. “W..what's going on!? I'm in control here!” Sazabi growled “What is happening?!”

 

“I'm not gonna let you hurt Captain.” Shute said, and there was a flash of brilliance right in front of the gundam and suddenly the boy was there, bathed in a golden glow “You jerk! We already got you; what else do you want?!”

 

“Shute?” captain gasped in confusion. He didn't know what was real anymore, and he had never seen the human boy this angry. It was almost terrifying for him, to see his best friend in such a rage. His soul drive started to rotate a little faster, stirred by Shute's words

 

“You can do nothing, boy.” Sazabi laughed, “You are powerless.”

 

Shute's tears streamed down his face angrily and all of a sudden he was holding Captain's beamsaber. “You can't tell me what I can do.” He spat “You don't know what I could do!”

 

Captain's soul drive spun faster, the dark streak vanishing and turning into radiant light.

 

“You are human. You cannot hurt me!”

 

The beamsaber switched on, the red stream of energy casting a eerie shadow on the boy's green eyes “Wanna bet?”

 

The spin started to turn into a whirlwind, soul drive giving off a triumphant shine and lengthening shadows. The red beam of the weapon slowly turned gold, and a fire of righteous anger appeared in Shute's eyes as he rushed

 

“NEVER HURT MY FRIENDS!!!”

 

Sazabi seemed frozen to the spot as the beam weapon stabbed neatly into his chest, the hole sparking and fizzing as the dark soul drive shattered. The Commander's form blew away in a wisp of red smoke and Shute released his hold on the beamsaber, dropping to his knees.

 

“Shute!” Captain cried as re ran up to his best friend and caught him in a brotherly hug “I can't believe it… You killed him…”

 

The boy gave a goofy smile “What are friends for?”

 

All the graves and the dark plane faded out to the plain scene of captain's room, once again in reality. Bakunetsumaru and Zero were there, looking very distressed but also relieved to see captain finally aware of himself. Shute was curled up around his head; crying and holding his friend's soul drive protectively.

 

“Shute, everybody” Captain whispered “Thank you.”

 

Unable to contain themselves any longer, both the wing and the musha also surged forward and joined Shute to embrace their neotopian friend in relief.

 

“It was only a nightmare, Captain.” Sighed the boy that had been saved by Captaim again and again “only a dream.”

 

For this time, that boy had saved his protector from what could have been complete madness.

 

-@-

 

“What do you MEAN the backup plan failed?!” General Zeong yelled at his right hand man, Professor Gerbera.

 

The red costumed mech just shook his head “While Sazabi was able to transfer a small amount of his essence into Captain Gundam he was ultimately foiled. He has been completely eradicated.”

 

“I am disappointed.” Zeong frowned “continue your work and attempt again to seize you predecessor.

 

“Yes sir. This nightmare will not end for him.”

 

-STORY END-

 

That's the end of this. Depressing, aint' it?

 

Yep. Some people do emo poetry. I do heartwrenching Captain/Shute friendship stuff. Yay for me.