<FIC> Fox Hunt Chpt 10

[Reaper DXR-7]

Full Metal Panic: Fox Hunt
By: Azurathe

Disclaimer: I own nothing involving Full Metal Panic, except the DVD’s I bought ^_^, so anyway yeah. Read the story and I hope you enjoy.

I'm don't really know about this one, I kinda felt wierd while writing it. I have got to seriously stop watching Eva and Raxephon back to back, to much psycho mind tirps. At least if I added Generator Gawl to the mix I would get some humor out of it... Arg I just realized that I was watching Eva, Raxephon, and Samurai X last night.... To much sad psycho mind trips...

Fox Hunt...

Chapter 10

Among the frigid capped mountains a lone woman sat, only a Shadow type Arm Slave accompanied her. “I will kill you Sousuke; you fell in love with that Chidori bitch. I will kill you for betraying my love...”

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It’s late now, around 2300 hours. We had just arrived aboard the TDD-1 and been greeted by half of its crew. I soon found out where most of the remaining crew was. When I told Mardukas to get everyone out of the cabin in Maine Tessa was injured very badly, nearly on the brink of death. “Where is the captain?”

As soon as I said that the hangar went deadly silent, the stale air growing much colder, it seemed either no one knew of her condition... or no one wanted to tell me. From wall to wall no one would say a word, then Kurz finally spoke. “Sousuke man... Captain is in the infirmary, they managed to save her life but...”

Staring at Kurz in disbelief I almost choked remembering what I had said that night in Maine. “But.... Kurz tell me what has happen?”

The blonde soldier sighed then stared at me, his eyes piercing my soul. “Right now she is in a coma, there is still a chance she could fall into the red zone. Who ever got in that shot got a good one...” He wasn’t joking around, this was too serious. The look on everyone’s faces told me the story Kurz had told me was true.

I had turned to ask Kalinin about it but, he and Kaname were as shocked as I was. I decided to take Kaname to my room, about half way there she began to cry. “Sousuke, she could have died!”

We continued down the dark hall towards my room, “yes I know.”

“It seems that you don’t care...”

“It’s not like I don’t care, it’s just that...” I sighed heavily then noticed we made it to my room. I turned towards Kaname, “Kaname... for awhile now she has been trying to call me back, to reassign me. Tessa is scared that I have become to close to you and that my feelings for you is what is causing me to act the way I have been...”

I can not fully understand the concept of love... Nor can I fully understand the emotion of hate... Buried deep in our minds is the possibilities of pure innocence, or pure demonic limitations. A step in either direction would cause a different reaction from those around me... If I were to step closer to innocence then I would fight my battles unwilling to kill, I would show mercy to an enemy who deserved none, unfit thoughts for a soldier in this day and age. The farther from innocence I stray, the better the soldier becomes, but what of my personal life. If I were to become the incarnation of a human demon then I could no longer be with Chidori... No I will not give up Chidori....

My mind trip continued as Kaname wrapped her arms around me, placing her head on my chest as we lay in that dark room. To stare in to the darkness is to stare in to the unknown, but man overcame that... Humans brought light to the darkness and triumphed. I can’t help but wonder if god exist... Is it possible that the Supreme Being’s experiment had gone wrong somewhere, a fluke... Or maybe god is trying to help us to paradise, help us to figure out the path to paradise through the guidance of the whispered... but in return for the kindness show we turn all the keys in to weapons, weapons designed to kill other humans. Will we keep going until everyone is dead?

“Sousuke, is there something you want to tell me?” That simple question... no not simple, but her voice was full of concern, full of hope that I was alright.

“Affirmative... Just... lingering thoughts.” Kaname smiled and kissed my cheek, then she drifted off in to her own world of dreams, separated from me by the silk curtain of her mind. “How I long to see what you dream about...” Gently I cupped her head, stroking her hair ever so gently. What had caused this change in me? Could the powers of the whispered be that infinite that they know no bounds, no limits. It was like god created perfect minds modeled after his own mind, minds that harnessed knowledge that could better the human race, but like every gift... Humans turned to destruction and chaos... To often have we resorted to killing one another to gain self-ratification, are we really that weak.

These thoughts engulfed me as I slowly drifted to sleep, but why did these thoughts come to me now of all times...

“Wake up Sousuke...” I could hear a faint voice, “wake up Sousuke...” Kaname, is that you? “Fine I guess I will need to wake you up some other way...” My eye flickered open to see Kaname half an inch away from me, her lips so very close to mine. I stayed quiet...

As she pressed her lips against mine I secretly smiled, then shunned myself for being deceptive, for tricking the woman I love... Again, mans ugly truths reveal its self. My eyes flew open, scaring Chidori half to death in the process. “D-don’t scare me l-like that S-S-Sousuke...”

Kaname was breathing heavily, my sudden bolt of life must have really surprised her. “I’m sorry Kaname.” Looking around the room I found my clock, it was only around four o’clock in the morning. “Why are we up so early Kaname? Kalinin said to get a good nights rest because you and I would have a lot of hard work to accomplish today.”

She approached me, wrapping me in her gently embrace. “Because... I want you right now so you are mine right now.” Her smile eased my conscious, her hands drawing circles on my bare chest eased my heart and soul. “So, you snuck a kiss from me Sgt., you surprised me... I never thought you would be so deceptive.”

“It was unintended Kaname, my dreams felt very wrong, not very pleasant dreams.” A dark hall in a hospital ward some where in Japan, the day I found out my mother passed away. Why were these memories beginning to return now, I didn’t need them now.

“Really, I didn’t know someone like you could dream... You amaze me everyday, you know that Sousuke?” I knew she was be sarcastic, but just to please her ego.

“Affirmative.”

Kaname kissed my cheek as I lay near her bosom, “so Sousuke... What were you dreaming about?” I gazed up in to the bottomless pools of Kaname’s pleasant eyes, she practically begged an answer out of me.

“Are you sure you want to know?” She then nodded. “Roger... I cannot say whether this was a dream or a memory, but the feeling of terror was real. Alone I sat in the pitch black room, a light shined through the cracking door to reveal my mother’s doom...” I was beginning to sound like Poe, the walls barricading my past were beginning to crumble at my feet. Slowly the haunting dreams, the melancholy memories flooding my every thought. Only thoughts of Kaname could bring me out of my nosedive in to the bottom less pits of darkness that engulfed the deepest reaches of my sub-conscious.

As I continued to explain the memories, and divulged my very soul to her. Never in my life had I talked so much, because never in my life had words meant so much to me. These words that spilled from within in me had meaning to them, when I was growing up in that hell of Helmajistan, words were useless. Now that I had Kaname a light was shined upon me, revealing that I was no longer a puppet of the high and mighty, but an individual who had some one who he cared for.

All my life I had grown up dreaming of a family, of a place that I could call home. I had found my haven with in Kaname Chidori, and no matter how the world may react, no matter how the people around me would care, I will stay with Kaname. She is the first person that I can trust with my true feelings, my emotions pent up with in my soul... Hate, kindness, sorrow, love... All words used to dictate how one feels, but at least these little words meant something to me now, happiness...

May 14, 2008, three months have passed since Kaname had moved in to the TDD-1, since Tessa had been saved but unable to revive her conscious, and three months since we began working on the Lambda driver system. Our progress in upgrading the system is going extremely well, we are at least two months ahead of schedule. It seems that with Kaname’s personal involvement with me, she has undergone a sort of technological and emotional baptism. She has come closer to understanding her powers as a whispered, the doctors that examined her said that her brain has recognized me her mate, all of her brain. They say that when Kalinin informed her of the adverse effects of the Lambda driver her mind increased a so-called Whispered gene production. Her wanting to keep me alive, to keep me from losing myself has caused her to increase her intelligence and abilities as a whispered.

Arbalest has gone through upgrades as well, but instead of being just an Arm Slave to me now, Al and Arbalest are my friends. It is hard to explain... It seems to me that Al and Arbalest are two different beings inhabiting the same shell, not quite trusting each other, but place their trust in me. I have yet had a problem with activating the Lambda driver since the incident on Melida island, but Kaname said that the system wasn’t actually responding to me at full power, like there was a dam in the celestial psychic river. It was strange to hear all of these things but surely Al and Arbalest, although they being beings of artificially creating and are not true living organisms, are protecting me from the Lambda driver.

I approached hanger three where Kaname, Kalinin, Dr. Jinsuisa, and Prof. O’Calihan all worked on fixing and completing Arbalest and the Lambda driver. Walking in to the hanger was like seeing a different side of everyone, Kaname especially. If she and I were not involved I am sure that the technical department could make good use of her. Kaname, covered in oil and grease rose from her position inside the cock-pit of Arbalest and waved to me feverously. “Sousuke!” She shouted as she ran towards me, stripping away her coat and hat revealing her tightly fitting shirt and shorts that well complimented her figure. “Hey there Sousuke, you came to check on us huh?”

Sighing I wondered, could this girl really be the girl I fell in love with, well to the best of my knowledge of love. Smiling I answered the unusually preppy Kaname, “negative, I did not come to check up on the status of the Arbalest or the Lambda system.”

Kaname gazed at me questioningly, “so why are you here,” she said with a slight grin.

I smiled knowing what she was thinking at the moment... “I came here to see how you are doing Kaname.”

She blushed, “well Sousuke, what an out of character thing to do. Checking on me even when your duty doesn’t require you to.” She turned her back towards me, from her body position I could tell that she was teasing me again. Just then Kaname jolted back towards me, her finger extended upright, poking my nose. “Well listen up Sousuke, you better make sure that these check ups for my sake, just because you care about, occur more often and become apart of you character, am I clear soldier!”

Nervously I saluted Kaname, “yes Mam, regular check ups with be conducted in an orderly fashion constituted by your wishes!”

I heard a flutter of giggling, then I noticed Kaname’s stern face staring at a group of girls behind me. They were new aboard the Dadaanan, a new batch of communication, and medical experts. Among the crowd I heard soft voices whispering amongst the squad. “Hey... isn’t that Sgt. Sagara.”

“Yeah, I heard no one has ever kissed him, that boy could defenitly use a woman’s touch and not a girls fondling.”

More laughter erupted from the crowd of women, Kaname grew furious. “I know wha’cha mean Susikara, he definitely has some potential, if only he were my boyfriend.”

“Yea.......h....” The group sighed and left, it was too late for me because the damage was done. I would be in a world of hurt tonight, tomorrow, the day after, maybe even the day after that as well. To my surprise Kaname was acting pretty calm in this situation, before this event Kaname would hunt down any girl that made even a suspicious glance at me. Now she lets it slide knowing that these girls envy her for snagging such a good catch, or at least that’s what Mao told me. It seems that I was some sort of idol to these new girls, every girl on board the ship wanted a piece of me. At least now I had the common sense to accompany some one while passing by the female quarters, or the mess hall during lunch or dinner.

Then from behind me Kalinin gasped, I turned to see what the problem was but only found a soft glow emitting from the Arbalest. “What is this?” The color was different from the usual glow. The color of the energy emitted from the Lambda driver was usually blue, now the color was a golden yellow.

As I gazed at the magnificent sight before me I noticed Chidori’s eyes sparkle, “we did it... It’s the completed Lambda driver.” Something was different about Kaname, she acted as if this work was what she was destined for. Her eyes sparkled as tears trickled down the sides of her face, “it’s finally over Sousuke, no more doubts about the safety factors, no more lingering thoughts...” I growled when I heard her speaking, “what’s wrong Sousuke?”

They entire room began to stare at me, my attention was too focused on the look in the eye of the Arbalest. “Put the original Lambda driver back in...”

“But...”

“No buts Kaname, I want the lambda driver returned to it’s original state. This is not the Arbalest I befriended, it has become a puppet.” As I continued to stare in to the red eye of the Arbalest I remembered the soft green glow that use to illuminate the eyes of my friend. “I do not trust this Arm Slave at the moment, in its present condition it could turn on me.”

Kaname turned towards me, “how could you...” She frowned, “we worked so hard to make sure that this system was perfect, to make sure that you wouldn’t lose yourself.” She growled, her face grew red. Suddenly her hand soared through the air connecting with my face, “you expect us to restore the original system! We all did this for you!”

This was first time I had grown truly angry at Kaname, “you just don’t get it. You may as well get someone else to pilot that monster because that is not ‘my Arbalest!’ Please listen to me,” I lowered my voice so that only Kaname heard what I had to say. My hands firmly grasped her shoulders as I leaned in to her. “You have worked so hard for me and I appreciate it. Please understand that this is not the Arbalest I agreed to pilot! I...”

I stopped when Kaname began to softly whimper. “You bastard...” Grabbing my arms she threw them off her and bolted out of the hanger. I couldn’t believe what I could have done, she couldn’t understand my dilemma, this was not the same Arbalest that had saved my life.

Soon after Kaname had left the room I quickly made after here, the last thing I heard from inside the room was something about the ‘evolution theory.’ Down the dark halls I chased Kaname, my life seems to be filled with more dark halls.