{Authoress' note: sorry about the tag mishp up there, but I
have no idea what else to call this fanfic.}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Past to be Forgotten
By Murasakikaze
Chapter Four
A Mix-up in the Delivery
Amelia sat in the boat for a long time. In fact, she sat in the
boat for such a long time that she missed the fact that Lina
and Gourry didn�t return because she was asleep. She
awoke with a start and looked around her. The sun was
losing to the night and someone was moving around in the
underbrush.
"Hello?!" Amelia stood and waved at the unknown figure.
"Lina-san?! Gourry-san?! Zelgadis-san?! Is that you?!"
The figure stepped out of the woods and stared at her
blankly.
"Yes."
"Zelgadis-san?!" Amelia leapt out of the boat and ran up to
hug him. She was really surprised when he hugged her
back. "I�m so happy that you�re safe!! I saw the smoke and
the explosion and I assumed things weren�t going well!"
"I am fine."
Amelia looked up into Zelgadis� face and saw that he was
smiling at her.
"Zelgadis-san�are you feeling alright?"
"I have never been better. Let�s go."
Zelgadis began to move towards the boat and felt a weight
on his arm. Amelia was trying to drag him back to the
forest.
"Shouldn�t we wait for Lina-san and Gourry-san?" she asked.
"They already went back. We are late in meeting them."
"Oh, okay." Amelia climbed into the boat and they rowed off
together.
----------
Random scientist #54 was not having a good day as he
watched Zelgadis and Amelia row off together. He silently
prayed that C4 would arrive soon so he could send him to
meet the �right� set of guests.
----------
Lina picked herself up and pushed Gourry off her legs. She
brushed the charred pieces of rubble off her pants and
looked down the hallway. Mirai and Kako were struggling to
keep Naria from running away by�reading her a story�
Lina visibly sweatdropped.
Five minutes later�
"Exactly how old is she now?" Lina stared at the twenty-year
old looking chimera playing with a set of blocks in a
containment room.
"Although she looks twenty, she now has the mental capability
of a five year old child.
"What did you do to her?" Gourry turned away from the one-way
mirror.
"It was a long time ago�I�d rather not discuss it." Mirai shook
her head slowly and moved towards the door. "You might not
want to watch this�"
Mirai walked into the room and sat down cross-legged next to
Naria. The young girl turned to her and smiled expectantly.
"Nii-chan is going to come see me right?"
Mirai slowly nodded. "Yes, your brother will be coming to see
you soon, but first I need you to do something for me, okay?"
"Hai!" Naria stood and waited for the other woman to stand.
Weirdly enough, she didn�t seem to notice how she loomed
over Mirai by a foot. "What do I have to do? Nii-chan�s been
gone so long�make it fast so I can see him, okay?"
Mirai smiled sadly and told her to spin around. Naria
complied and Lina tried not to throw up as Mirai yanked the
chip out of her neck again, causing the girl to collapse to the
floor.
"Do you have to keep doing that?!" she screamed through the
glass.
"I told you not to watch."
----------
Zelgadis sat on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. How long
would he have to stay here, he wondered. Another spark came
from the voice box as it tried to communicate with him.
Suddenly, the door slid open and a young woman stepped
through.
"It is time for your tests, C1," she said mechanically. Zelgadis
sat up and stared at the Naria clone.
"Is that all you do?" he asked sardonically.
"It is time for your tests, C1," the drone repeated and waited for
him to follow her. "Please come with me."
"And if I say no?" He lay back down on the bed and resumed
staring at the ceiling.
"I will take you by force," the robotic voice replied as she yanked
him to his feet and carried him out the door by his collar.
----------
"System activation complete," the computer stated coldly.
Naria sat up and rubbed her head. This was getting to be too
much. Nine activations in one week didn�t allow for any down
time and that meant no sleep. She wasn�t the happiest drone-
chimera in the world.
"Good morning, Naria."
"Good morning yourself�" she grumbled.
"Is she back to normal?" Gourry watched her carefully, clearly
wondering what �normal� was.
"As normal as she ever will be," Mirai sighed and helped the
chimeran girl off the table.
"Why the hell do you do that to me?" Naria cried as she shoved
Mirai back. "What did I do to deserve being treated like some
robot that has no mind at all?!"
"You mean she�s awake during that entire thing?!" Lina looked
at the scientist in horror. "It�s torture to put someone through
that."
"But I�m not a someone, Lina Inverse. I�m just a thing, a toy for
these �scientists� to manipulate and change. I don�t even
remember who I was before I came to this accursed island!"
Naria turned away and stalked out of the room, pushing past
Kako as he entered.
"I see she�s back to normal," he commented indifferently and
continued walking up to the control panel. "Mirai, escort the
guests to the waiting room. C1 is ready for his tests and he
has to have the room to himself."
Mirai nodded and calmly shoved Lina and Gourry out of the
laboratory and into the room with the one-way mirror. The
blocks had been replaced with a buffet and a full library to
entertain them. Lina turned to run back in, but heard the door
lock as soon as Mirai shut it.
"You think you can turn my head away from what just
happened?! I want to see Zel now!" Lina pounded on the door
and sighed as her efforts proved to be in vain. "Well, as long
as they�re going to be civil about keeping us prisoners�might
as well take them up on the offer!"
Lina sat down across from Gourry and began to pick out what
she wanted from the buffet. However, she was oblivious to the
fact that an odorless gas was slowly seeping into the room.
----------
Naria stalked down the white hallways mumbling to herself. Any
ordinary person would have thought she was out of her mind, but
there were no ordinary people on the island.
"I can�t believe they expect me to do everything for them�I�m not
some damn doll�or am I?" She stopped at that thought and
quickly brushed it off as the indifferent personality program took
over. She sighed and began to walk down the hall, head slightly
bowed, with her hands in her pockets. It didn�t really matter.
After all, it wasn�t like they were going to set her free anytime
soon, so she shouldn�t care about it until then.
"Let me go, dammit!!" Came the echoing cry. "I said put me
down!!"
Naria looked up in time to see one of her clones walk by with
a very belligerent C1 in her grasp. She watched as they
continued down the hall. Apparently, C1 was too caught up
in trying to break free to notice her. She just shrugged and
continued on. It wasn�t her problem�
"Let me go!! Fireball!!" There was a big boom, then a slight
pause, then: "Ah, hell�"
Naria turned to see the clone standing just before the
laboratory door, confused. The fireball had affected it more
than C1 had anticipated by more or less shutting it down.
Maybe it was her problem�.
"Chimera 67!"
The drone turned abruptly, C1 still in its clutches and
suspended off the floor.
"N-Naria?!" Zelgadis stared at the young girl and watched in
amazement as she walked over and calmly instructed the
robot.
"C67, put him down now and follow me. I have higher rank
here and I have a job for you." Naria motioned for Zelgadis
to follow her and took the other robot�s hand. "Come along,
Sy. I know where there�s a good reading place."
The drone�s eyes lit up a bit and she followed Naria down
the hallway. For lack of anything else to do, Zelgadis followed
them both.
"Exactly how did you stop it?" he asked, feigning indifference.
"Like I said, I have higher rank. She doesn�t recognize you
because you aren�t inputted into her command mainframe.
As far as any of these drones know, I�m directly under Kako
and Mirai." Naria stopped before a huge steel door and
pushed a small red button off to the left. The door slid open
and the drone happily ran inside. "Even if we look like we
don�t have any minds, we do. We understand whether what
we are doing is wrong or right, but because of our
programming we can�t stop it no matter how hard we try. We
can only go against programming if someone ranking
above us gives us a different order. Unfortunately for me, I only
have Mirai and that deranged idiot Kako."
Zelgadis noticed that the room that had been revealed was a
huge study and many other clones were copying text out of
the books onto smaller tablets. Once completed, the tablets
were thrown down a chute that was labeled processing.
"I hate being here, but I am not allowed to leave unless given
orders," Naria punched the button again and the doors slid
closed.
"If you have free will, then why not?" Zelgadis stuck close
behind her as she moved outside the compound and into a
small enclosed garden.
"If it was that simple, I�d take this chip and leave forever.
However, I have a small implant that prevents me from leaving.
It has to be deactivated before I leave or I�d die by internal
bleeding the second I stepped foot off the island. You were the
lucky one, Zel. They didn�t develop our �leash� until you
disappeared." She leaned down and carefully picked up a
small watering can.
"So why not stay out on one of your orders?" Zelgadis found
himself compelled to help Naria as she took care of the many
flowers and different plants in the greenhouse and also picked
up a watering can.
"There�s a timer on the leash. If I�m gone for more than the
required time, the punishment kicks in and I�d die again." Naria
let the crystal cool liquid pour out of the spout and the delicate
flower bent under the weight of the cascade. "You should be
glad I saved you, Zel. I overhead Kako talking about implanting
a leash in you."
Zelgadis stopped and the watering can clattered to the floor. "It�s
true then. I thought it was just you, but I realized something right
now�"
"This garden is just too familiar, isn�t it?" she completed his
thought and smiled. "Yes, you planted most of it while you were
here. After you left, they gave it to me to take care of until the day
when you returned."
Zelgadis stared up at the slightly green glass that spread out
over the steel frame and sighed. It was true. The memories
were flooding back more and more and things just weren�t
going the way he had planned at all.
"You were constructed within week and reached the age of
fifteen after six days. They released you, but didn�t count on
your free will. You never returned and that�s when they
changed procedures," Naria explained. "I was the first to
undergo the changes. Of course, I had to wait in stasis for
three years, but eventually they perfected the leash, the chip,
and the personalities."
Zelgadis sank to the floor as he realized that this was his
past and she wasn�t crazy. Things were just too familiar
and he also realized that he never quite remembered what
came before he hit age fifteen. It was like he had coasted
through life in a fuzzy bubble and it hadn�t broken until he
was fifteen. That�s when memories became crystal clear.
He remembered Rezo, the studies with Eris, the time when
he received his curse, and all the adventures, but before
that�nothingness.
"You finally accept it now, don�t you?" she asked and kneeled
down the in dirt to extract a weed. "If only you knew what they
did to all of us�you�d be glad that you were the first�"
Zelgadis looked up from staring at his clenched hands and
saw the tears fall from her eyes.
"I hate who I am�malfunctions are coming more frequently
now and I know it�s only a matter of time before they replace
me like a broken doll. In fact, that�s all I am�a doll, a toy,
something for them to twist around their little fingers until it
snaps. Then they can bring in a new toy and start it all over
again." The tears were flowing freely down her cheeks now,
but the blank expression on her face never changed. It was
like she was surprised that she was crying at all. "Even this
shows that things are going wrong. Dolls aren�t supposed
to cry. We aren�t supposed to have emotions. We�re
supposed to be the perfect drone�the perfect mine worker
�.the perfect idiot�"
Zelgadis didn�t know what to do as Naria hugged herself
and closed her eyes as if in pain. Her voice was hollow and
angry as it echoed off the glass. "I hate this! I hate this
island! I hate being a drone and having clones all around
me! I hate Kako for making me and Mirai for not stopping
him! I hate everything in this false world! I hate myself and
most of all�"
She turned to look at him as she uttered her last words.
"I hate you."
----------
"For someone to be able to wield such a sword, he must
have much power within him." Kako smiled as he
watched the other room. "The girl also. The aura she
carries with her shows how much power she has."
Mirai nodded slowly and kept her eyes on the faces in the
room. "It isn�t right, sir. They aren�t part of the experiment
�we shouldn�t-"
Kako�s voice cut her in half. "Are you questioning me,
Mirai?"
She was instantly silent and shook her head.
"Good, then get them ready. I�d like to have a few new
chimeras added to the pile." Kako turned and walked
away from the room where Lina and Gourry were lying on
the floor, completely unconscious.
----------
Amelia stared at Zelgadis as he read the menu carefully.
Something wasn�t right. He had been too happy to see her,
although she wasn�t complaining, but he was also too happy
to see everyone else in the town.
"Anou�Zelgadis-san?"
He raised his eyes from the menu and smiled. It wasn�t a
normal smile and it chilled Amelia to the bone.
"Hai?"
"Are you okay?"
"Hai."
"Are you sure?"
"Hai."
"Anou, Zelgadis-san, are you ready to order?"
"Hai."
"What are you going to have?"
"�hai."
That was when Amelia got up, went outside, closed the
door quietly behind her and said,
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
----------
Comments, Criticisms, MSTs, flames...well maybe not
flames, but anything else will be appreciated. I finally
decided that this is getting to alternaty not to label it as such.
Finally, I do not own these characters or claim to own them.
I can't think of anything else to say...my caffiene high just
crashed....
Murasakikaze
muteki@juno.com
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