Mobile Suit Gundam SEED TWILIGHT

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Phase 14 - Disappearing

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The door to Harris Meyers' office slid open, and Kyali Sekar stormed in with all the subtlety of a tornado. She marched up to Harris's desk, and even the young colonel felt the urge to remove the safety from his sidearm as he stared into her furious eyes.

"Why did you take Emily prisoner?!" Kyali demanded, slamming her hands down onto the desk.

Harris glanced up at her, cocking an eyebrow. "Emily is an interesting specimen," he started. "The Phantom Pain database says that she was one of Lord Djibril's— "

"I don't care!" Kyali shouted. "Why did you capture her?!"

"I don't see what business it is of yours to know," Harris answered, sitting back. "She is evidently the pilot of the Gundam that bested you in Murmansk."

"She was nice to me!" Kyali snapped. "Nobody's nice to me, but she was! And now she's gonna get tortured! And I wanna know why!"

Harris glanced over Kyali's shoulder, as the guards finally arrived, looking perplexed at the furious Extended before them.

"If it's any consolation, I was as surprised as you are," Harris said tiredly. "But military necessity is military necessity— "

"She was nice to me!" Kyali screamed.

The soldiers advanced forward, glancing at Harris. He nodded.

"These matters are none of your concern, Kyali," he said coolly, even as she fumed in front of him. "And I'm very busy, so if you could just disappear for a while..."

The soldiers seized Kyali by the arms and dragged her away before she could scream. Harris tapped a button on his intercom.

"Tupolev here," the voice on the other end answered. "What is it, sir?"

"Send a line out to Moscow base," Harris said. "We'll probably need to take refuge there— I doubt the Minerva will let us get away with one of their pilots and one of their Gundams." He narrowed his eyes as Kyali's screams drifted down the hall and into his office. "And we'll have to contact Althea about this defective little Extended that General von Schadt gave to us."

"Understood, sir," Tupolev answered.

Harris shut off his intercom and sat back, scowling.

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"This doesn't have to be so difficult," Shawn Bernard said sardonically, standing over the battered prisoner. "So for every volt we've introduced into you, you have no one to blame but yourself."

Bernard stood amusedly over Emily, on her knees with the soldiers holding her up by her arms. She already bore the bruises and bloodstains of five hours' worth of "interrogation," and extending from her side was a thin metal wire that led to a silver taser in the hands of one of the soldiers. She struggled to breathe, her head hanging and blood dripping down from her forehead.

"I'm a very patient man, Emily," Bernard continued, "but even I have my limits. And I'm sure you do as well. So let's make this easier for everyone." He leaned down next to her. "Tell me the Minerva's destination."

Emily coughed weakly, blinking painfully at a drop of blood that landed on the floor before her. The faces of her friends on the Minerva flashed into her cloudy mind— how could she betray them?

"A-Alaska..." she sputtered.

Bernard straightened up and glanced at the soldier with the taser, nodding. He pulled the trigger, and the air was split by a deafening scream as raw electricity surged through Emily's body for the eighth time that day. Emily's eyes bulged as her world devolved into nothing but sheer, blinding pain.

The soldier released the trigger, and only the guards holding her up kept Emily from slumping to the floor. Bernard heaved a sigh and leaned down next to her again.

"Emily, if you're going to lie to me, at least do it well," he said. "First of all, all our projected information on your course predicts that you're heading towards Carpentaria, which is nowhere near Alaska. And second, Alaska is the site of a newly-constructed Alliance base, and there is no plausible reason that the Minerva would attack it right now. So I'm afraid that theory doesn't wash." He sighed again. "So I will ask again. Where is the Minerva going?"

Emily coughed again, and more blood landed on the floor, next to Bernard's boot. "I...I don't...I don't know..."

Bernard reared back and backhanded her across the face, sending more blood flying. "Now, you see, you knew just a second ago," he said. "I told you I don't like it when I'm lied to."

Emily blinked again in pain, her world swimming around her. The horrible possibilities of what could happen to her next tried to stream through her head, but the pain dulled even her fear.

"Major, we've been at this for five hours," one of the guards said. "If she hasn't told us anything useful in five hours, she probably doesn't have anything useful to tell."

"She's a pilot aboard the most famous warship in the Resistance's fleet," Bernard answered. "She must have something important to tell us." He looked back down at the battered, bruised girl. "In which case, let's try a different line of questioning. Now, Emily, the ship you were on is very famous. You must know much about the Resistance's leadership, and we're quite eager to hear about it."

"I...I don't know..." Emily whispered, wincing as every syllable brought her pain.

Bernard stepped back and kicked her in the stomach; she gagged and coughed up blood. "Why are you making me do this?" he asked wearily. "I can keep at this all day, Emily, but I don't think you can survive many more taser bursts. So will you admit defeat?"

"...b-but I don't know..." she protested, heaving and gasping for air.

Bernard slapped her face. "I'm sure you do."

"...but...I don't..."

Another slap. "But you must."

"But...but I don't!"

Another slap. "You are testing my patience, Emily."

"I...I don't..."

Bernard glanced at the soldier with the taser again, and watched impassively as more electricity went tearing through her body. The soldier released the trigger, and Emily almost slipped from the guards' grips and collapsed to the floor.

"One way or another, I'm going to get the truth out of you, Emily," Bernard said.

Emily painfully squeezed her eyes shut, as her tears mixed with blood, and tried not to think.

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It was all happening again.

Shinn Asuka stood on the Minerva's deck, hands clenched around the railing, staring painfully into the gray, cloudy sky and ignoring the biting cold. The faces returned in his mind's eye, boring into him and tearing down his soul.

There were his mother, his father, and Mayu, lying in pools of blood on that slope on Onogoro Island so long ago. He could not protect them— in CE 71 he had no power, and could only stare in horror at what was left of his family, his world, burning and rotting on the hillside as the sounds of war went silent in his ears. Everything he knew and cherished, gone, in a single terrible instant.

There was the face of Rey Za Burrel, his comrade, his wingman, his friend. They fought the enemies of ZAFT together and Rey extended the comforting hand of direction to a life without it. But that only recalled the pain of betrayal, as Chairman Dullindal's new world turned out to be one that Shinn could not fight for if it would cost Stella's life. And that left the face of his comrade, his wingman, his friend fighting him to the death in front of Messiah.

There was Lunamaria Hawke, the girl who had found a way to fight by his side even until the end, sacrificing home and family and country. Of all those that his actions at the Battle of Arzachel Crater had affected, it was her that he regretted the most. And yet when they finally met again aboard the Megami, she had held no ill will towards him, and they had fought as friends for the last battles of the war. But he could only see the fiery explosion that claimed another friend, another piece of his world.

There were the faces of the Mad Typhoon Gang, the space pirates who gave him a home when he had nothing but a Gundam, a name, and an Extended who relied on him for protection. George was there again, guiding him through the reality of the Cosmic Era and showing him what really happened outside the laminated armor of the Minerva and the glitzy townhouses of Orb. Kika was there again, holding him up as he suffered through the pain of his powers, and, if only for a moment, ensuring that he would not be alone. But that all disappeared in a baneful blast of fire, because he had not been strong enough to protect them from Kira Yamato.

And now it was happening again.

Even at this distance, Shinn could feel Emily's suffering, driving into his brain like a knife. She was in pain. Every so often, the pain would spike— the Phantom Pain was torturing her. And the only thing he could do was sit here and suffer through it and hope that there would still be an Emily von Oldendorf left to rescue. And she was out there because he had not been strong enough to protect her. It was the same damn story, playing itself out again, mocking him and his weakness.

He didn't bother looking over his shoulder as Stella Loussier emerged onto the deck, coming up next to him and staring silently at him.

"It's cold," Stella murmured. "How come Shinn's out in the cold...?"

Shinn closed his eyes, not bearing to look at Stella. "It's nothing," he said.

Stella followed his gaze for a moment. "...is Emily okay?"

Shinn tightened his fists around the railing. "No," he said painfully, "she's not."

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Another spike of pain flashed up through the consciousness of Rau Le Creuset. He winced at the feeling, but quashed it with practiced ease— this was the price for being captured, after all.

The Minerva was seething with emotion right now, much to Rau's annoyance— which made for another reason to find the Minerva's wayward pilot and rescue her from the dubious auspices of the Phantom Pain. Not that there was a shortage of those— Rau turned over the presence in his mind, even as he continued to search for information on this ever so important little girl.

He scanned over what little information he already had. Emily was certainly a Newtype, the daughter of the wealthy and influential Gerhardt von Oldendorf, and formerly of Lord Djibril's household staff. But that was all there was, it seemed, even to the Phantom Pain.

On the other hand...a thought occurred to him, and Rau brought up a search engine, a small smile playing at his lips, even as the pain in the distance flared up again. Information about Emily herself was sparse; information about Viveka was equally sparse and seemed somewhat irrelevant; and information about Gerhardt was either equally irrelevant or ran up against the wall of "state secrets." But the mother...

Rau grinned as he set to work. Lorelei von Oldendorf...perhaps you have what I'm looking for.

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Athrun Zala had lived through the emotional trauma of having his world wrenched from him more than once in his young life. The Earth Alliance had destroyed Junius 7 and turned his world into a soldier's world; his father had sought to destroy the Naturals and turned his world into a rebel's world; Cagalli had held aloft the banner of war on the Seirans and turned his world into a revolutionary's world; Rau Le Creuset had tried to destroy everything with his vengeful sword and turned his world into a broken world. But all of that trauma had not hardened to his heart entirely to the sight before him.

Slumped against the wall of the observation deck, Viveka was a shuddering, tear-stained mess. She looked up blearily at Athrun as he approached, and even the tired old soldier had to choke back a tear of his own.

"The Phantom Pain took my eye," she said quietly. Athrun blinked, his own eyes wandering to the eyepatch on her face. "When they were interrogating me. They got mad at me and gouged out my eye." She shook her head. "Is that what they'll do to Emily? What will they do to her?"

Athrun paused to choose his words— and decided not to mention the bursts of pain he had felt from somewhere in the distance all day. "The Alliance won't bother expending energy on her once they've determined she knows nothing of interest to them," he said carefully, "and I don't think Emily knows anything of interest to them."

Viveka stared down at her metal hand, and Athrun uneasily wondered if she had the Phantom Pain to thank for that as well. "But they're the Phantom Pain," she protested. "They broke every single standing law about treatment of prisoners of war when they had me captive."

Athrun knelt down next to her. "Emily is stronger than that," he said; Viveka looked up at him, blinking. "When she has to, she comes through and fights, even if she's afraid."

Viveka buried her face in her mismatched hands, and Athrun simply put a hand on her shoulder and let her cry, as another spike of pain surged through his consciousness.

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The soft, cool fabric of the maintenance bed was there to hold Kyali up as she awoke, inside the familiar Plexiglas bubble. The atmosphere inside was cool and misty, but a moment later the dome slid open with a hiss, and Kyali pulled herself out.

"Another block-wording behind you, I see," the technician in charge said with a sigh. "Brainwaves are normal again, so I guess you're done here."

"Okay," Kyali said quietly, grabbing her uniform shirt from the peg near the door and throwing it on. "I should probably go do somethin' useful, huh."

"As long as you don't make the colonel mad," the technician warned.

Kyali stepped out of the maintenance pod room, a plan taking shape in her mind. The cell block was monitored at all times by cameras, but the men watching those cameras were probably not likely to be paying attention. Still, it would not hurt to give them nothing to pay attention to— and a Class II Extended had enough computer-hacking skills to splice footage and insert it into the network undetected.

And, she thought, seeing in her mind's eye the curved combat-knife in her quarters, while the Alliance's soldiers were trained to at least be competent at close-quarters combat, they could not easily do so in the dark.

She was nice to me, Kyali reminded herself, heading for her room. So I'll have to protect her.

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"It's not often you use a videophone," Robert Meyers observed with a smile, sitting back in his office in faraway Washington DC. "What's the occasion, Harris?"

Harris Meyers grinned back. "The Minerva is the occasion, father," he said. "I captured one of their machines, and the pilot, intact."

"Did you," Robert said, arching an eyebrow in surprise. "From the Minerva?"

"From the Minerva," Harris replied. "We're doing a full burn for Moscow right now. But they'd have to break onto the ship to find her, and I don't think they'll be able to accomplish that."

"Her?" Robert echoed. "You know, Harris, I've been hearing rumors that the Minerva has some new pilots, one of which is just a teenage girl."

Harris's eyes darkened. "That's the one we got," he said. "Her name is Emily von Oldendorf. The Gundam we captured is a Destiny unit that they call the Twilight Gundam, and it seems to have been constructed from spare parts. But we won't know much about its insides until we get it to Moscow."

"Well," Robert said, "nevertheless, to have taken something from the Minerva is no small feat. So congratulations." He smiled. "You seem to have become a capable soldier."

Harris smiled himself. "Everyone at Volkov Crater said that I was only being made a colonel because of you," he said. "It's my duty to be the most capable soldier I can be."

"Of course." Robert shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I would also like to ask if you're still using that Extended girl. She would be something of a political liability were it to come out."

The senator blinked in surprise as Harris's visage dimmed with frustration. "I suspect we will not be using Kyali much longer," he said grimly. "She has become rebellious and disinclined to follow orders. Once we reach Moscow, I may consider sending her back to Althea Crater. General von Schadt clearly needs to do some more work on her."

"I understand," Robert said with a nod. "I'm afraid I have work to do, so I cannot stay long, but I am proud of you for your accomplishment today."

"Thank you, father," Harris said.

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It said something that the screams were audible even through the metal door.

Gregory Hayden stared at the door of the room in which the captive Resistance pilot was being, as the guards put it, "interrogated." They had posted no guards outside the room— none, they believed, were necessary. But he had seen the pilot of the mysterious ZAFT Gundam in the hangar being dragged away by the guards, and still could not believe that it was a teenage girl they had in chains. Was the Resistance that desperate?

Another scream rang through the door. Hayden blinked— and if that was the pilot, and she was in there, then that meant they were torturing her.

He wondered who they were to do that— to torture a child, even if that child was an enemy. The reflex that he had trained since his days at Volkov Crater kicked in— that Resistance members frequently if not automatically resorted to such tactics or worse, that Resistance members were not soldiers and didn't enjoy the provisions of the Corsica Treaty, that Resistance prisoners got what they deserved.

But as he listened to the screams from the other side of the door, those excuses began to ring hollow.

Hayden shook his head and shoved the sounds from his ears, resolutely walking away. He was a good soldier, he told himself; and he would follow orders.

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The bridge was quiet as the Minerva sailed forward, trailing the Bonaparte as it raced south towards Moscow. Abbey was quietly working with Roxy at her console, while Meyrin sat in silence in the captain's chair, staring wearily out the bridge windows, over the snow-caked landscape. Athrun and Rau stood near the captain's chair, while Auel was seated on the steps nearby.

"The mechanics are hurrying the repairs," Athrun said grimly, "but until then, I guess there isn't much we can do."

"This sucks," Auel put in.

"We'll close in and attack as soon as our machines are ready," Meyrin said. "We won't leave her to die. I can guarantee that much."

Athrun winced again as the pain shot up from the Bonaparte. "I hope there's something left to rescue," he sighed. "I...I can't believe they've been doing this all day."

"They have?" Auel asked, glancing up at him.

"I've been feeling spikes of pain all day," Athrun explained. "I'm sure I'm not the only one. They're...torturing her."

"My God," Auel mumbled, looking back out the windows. "They're...animals."

"If she is still alive, then that is a testament to her resilience," Rau said with a hint of approval. "Nevertheless, the Alliance clearly had a plan that they executed flawlessly in capturing her. If we are to recover her, we will need a plan of our own."

"We have enough infantry to take that ship, I think," Meyrin said. "But we'll need the mobile suits to tie up their MS force and break the ship open, first."

"Well," Auel said, clenching his fists, "now they've gone and made it personal."

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The sixteenth taser burst of the day had not elicited anything more than another agonized scream, and with a sigh, Bernard finally took a step back.

"Your perseverance in the face of pain impresses me, Emily," he said. "But know that the Corsica Treaty's provisions on the treatment of prisoners of war do not extend to members of the Resistance. Consider that, and know that I am willing to do what it takes to extract from you your knowledge of our enemy."

Emily looked up painfully at him, trembling as the implications trickled into her brain. She looked into the dark eyes of the major, and saw there the million fates she had feared inside that Windam long ago. Bernard scowled at her.

"Lieutenant," he said, gesturing to the man beside him, "no respite. I will be in my quarters. Inform me of any changes."

"Yes sir," the lieutenant said, as Bernard left. The door slammed shut behind him— the lieutenant glared down sardonically at the battered prisoner. "Maybe being electrocuted isn't enough for you, eh?" He glanced up at the men holding Emily up. "Perhaps we need to try a different tactic."

The door opened again— the men glanced over their shoulders, only to turn in surprise as the lights went out and the door slid shut again—

Emily blinked in shock as the sounds of a scuffle reached her ears, as men's voices cried out and gasped and coughed, and the gruesome sound of something being stabbed into human flesh filled the room. The arms supporting her gave way, and she sank to the floor, collapsing into blood— either hers or someone else's, but she could no longer tell.

The lights came on, and Emily winced at the feeling, as she found all of the soldiers lying around her, dead, with hideous stab wounds in their chests. Standing above them, hand on the light switch, clutching a bloody knife, was—

"K-Kyali...?"

Kyali Sekar dropped her knife and pulled Emily back up, propping her up against the wall. "Oh, man, they really screwed you up," she said nervously. She grabbed the nearest soldier and ripped off his shirt, tearing the unstained back into strips and setting to work bandaging Emily's wounds.

"Why did you...save me?" Emily asked quietly, as Kyali wiped the blood from her forehead.

"Why are you in the Resistance?" Kyali asked back, grabbing another dead soldier's shirt to provide more bandaging material. "Jeez, they would've killed you if they'd kept this up much longer..."

"...y-you saved me..." Emily murmured, wincing as Kyali tied the impromptu bandage over a cut on her arm.

"Well, look," Kyali said, "the Alliance does some pretty awful things to me, like, all the time. And I don't want that to happen to you."

"...but why?"

Kyali looked into Emily's pain-clouded eyes. "Because you were nice to me."

Emily watched the young Extended for a moment. "You could...come with us," she said.

Kyali shook her head, and helped hoist Emily to her feet. "This'll go a lot easier if you can walk by yourself," she said. "Think you can do it?"

Emily took a hesitant step forward, and mustered up her strength. She knew she couldn't stay here— and now she had someone on her side. The fear of death made for a pretty strong motivator, and she struggled to ignore the pain as she followed Kyali out.

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"The mobile suits will proceed forward and take out the enemy land-ship's MS force," Roxy explained. "After that, we've got an infantry force ready for you guys to give the word, and they'll break onto the ship and find Emily." She paused uncomfortably. "Good luck, guys."

Inside the Destiny Gundam, Shinn Asuka felt his fury surge through him as the Destiny locked itself into the Minerva's catapult. He had watched all his friends die before, helpless and unable to stop them. But he could still feel the flickering pressure of Emily's life on that ship— and that meant there was still something to save.

"Shinn Asuka, Destiny, taking off!"

The Destiny rocketed forward, with the Savior following from the port catapult. Shinn glanced over at Viveka as the Savior fell into formation next to him.

"I'm going in with the infantry," she said pointedly. "I'm not gonna stop until I see my little sister and know that she's safe."

"I think we're all going in with the infantry at this point," Shinn said darkly. "But we'll bring her back, I promise!"

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Hiding in the shadows of the hangar, Kyali and Emily watched from behind the Twilight as the Aegis Gundam took off through the Bonaparte's main doors in the hangar's ceiling. Emily glanced over at Kyali as the mechanics began waving a Windam into launch position.

"You can come with us," Emily said painfully, as Kyali scanned the hangar for guards. "We can...help you..."

"I'm an Extended," Kyali answered, her voice a whisper. "If I did that, I'd die." She glanced up at the boarding platform next to the Twilight. "So I'm going to protect you, so you can go back home."

"But they'll punish you," Emily protested. "If they did this to me...then they'll do even worse to you."

Kyali smiled sadly. "I'm an Extended," she repeated. "They changed my body so that I can't survive without them. What more can they do to me?" She put her hands on Emily's bruised and bloody shoulders. "I'm glad I met you. It's been a long time since anyone was ever nice to me. So I want you to go back to where you can be happy, 'cuz it sure isn't here."

"But...but I would have to leave you behind," Emily murmured.

"Then you'll have to," Kyali said with a shrug.

The Bonaparte rocked as something outside exploded, and Kyali held Emily down as the mechanics cursed and the ship rattled. Emily blinked in surprise at the feeling of a familiar presence.

"Shinn..." she whispered.

"Was he that guy who was with you in the city?" Kyali asked; Emily nodded brokenly, and Kyali smiled again. "I think he can protect you better than I can. But you've gotta get out of here."

"Kyali..." Emily started.

"I'll distract everyone," Kyali said. "But you've gotta go back home."

With that, Kyali let go of Emily and rushed out of the shadows, towards the Strike. She leapt up the boarding platform and into the cockpit, and the Strike came to life with a flash of its Phase Shift. It stepped forward, but let its rifle slip from its grasp and clatter to the hangar floor.

"Hey!" one of the mechanics shouted. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Sorry, guys! I'm real tired," Kyali's voice answered on the loudspeaker.

Emily mustered up her strength and leapt onto the boarding platform in front of the Twilight, raising the platform up to the cockpit and diving inside. The mechanics and guards turned in disbelief, only to watch the Twilight's cockpit slam shut.

Inside, Emily let out a sigh of relief as she felt her familiar machine come online, protecting her with its Phase Shift armor. She watched the Strike take off— a moment later, looking down, she saw a painfully familiar figure among the shocked guards and mechanics on the hangar floor. She magnified the image—

The terrible face of Shawn Bernard was there, yelling at a soldier. Her eyes flashed; the seed fell before her—

The Twilight tore itself free from its brace, lunging forward. Bernard looked up in horror at the black Gundam as it reared back, and with a scream, Emily brought her left-hand palm cannon down on top of the terrified Bernard, ignoring the feeling of his death as she burned him away.

Emily looked up at the open roof, and the battle in the skies above the Bonaparte. Kyali's words echoed in the back of her head, and she took off with a flash of exhaust.

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The Aegis brought its beam saber down with a crash onto the sword of the Destiny Gundam. Shinn snarled furiously, surging forward to throw the Aegis back, and leveled off his long-range cannon to open fire on an incoming pair of Windams in the process.

"I'm not going to break another promise!" he snapped. The Aegis came storming in again— Shinn charged, battering it aside with his sword and racing towards the Bonaparte.

All eyes turned to the ship as the Twilight Gundam rocketed out of the hangar, beam wings flashing to life and tearing a pair of Windams in two lengthwise. Shinn's eyes widened in disbelief as he felt the familiar pulse of Emily inside.

"Emily!" he cried. "Is that you— ?!"

The Aegis whirled around, beam rifle drawn. "How the hell did you get loose?!" Harris shouted, opening fire— an instant later, however, the Strike was there to deflect the shots with its shield. "What?!"

"Don't you dare!" Kyali shouted. "I won't let you do to Emily what you always do to me!"

"Kyali!" Harris shot back. "Get out my way! Disappear!"

Kyali's eyes flashed wide with fear, but the Twilight pulled the Strike aside, deploying its beam shield to block the Aegis's beam blasts.

"You won't disappear!" Emily cried. Kyali blinked in surprise, staring at the bruised and bandaged Emily on the Strike's screen. "I'll save you! You aren't gonna disappear!"

"I-I'm not?" Kyali murmured.

"You will!"

Out of nowhere, the Aegis Gundam roared into the fray in mobile armor mode, clamping its claws down around the Strike and rocketing towards the Bonaparte.

"Kyali!" Emily screamed, whirling around and leveling off her beam rifle at the Aegis. The Destiny dropped in to seize the Twilight by the arms.

"Don't, Emily! We're going back to the Minerva!" Shinn cut her off.

The Destiny pulled the Twilight back towards the Minerva, and the two Gundams took off.

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To be continued...