****
Certain characters are not my own. They belong
to certain people who aren't me and although I'd
want to be them, the fact is, I'm not. Now off the
author's drivel about not suing me and onto the
fanfic!!
****
A Past to be Forgotten
By Murasakikaze
Chapter Five
Time is Not on Our Side
Lina awoke slowly and with a killer headache. Which
just meant that someone was going to receive one
hell of a punishment. Then she realized that she
wouldn�t be able to deal out that punishment�she
was strapped down by three metal straps to an
operating table.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" she screamed and
started to struggle against her bonds.
Across from her, Gourry was lying unconscious still on
another table similar to hers. Kako stepped out from
behind a large cabinet and smiled.
"Glad to see that you�re awake, Lina Inverse. It�ll only
make this project more interesting. We�ve experimented
with people before, but never a true sorceress as you
seem to be by your power charts. Oh, and by the way,
are you supposed to be famous or something? I asked
one of the drones about you and he fainted saying
something about the Dragon Spooker." Again, Kako
smiled as Lina�s face went beet red with anger and she
started yelling out a few choice words at him.
"Ah, I see."
----------
"I hate you. I hate everything that you symbolize and
everything that you are." Naria stared at the bewildered
young man, complete and utter rage flickering in her
eyes. "Why did you have to be created?! Why couldn�t
you have failed like all the others?! What the hell made
you so special?!"
Zelgadis just watched as the girl threw the watering can
through the window. The glass shattered and flew out into
morning air, raining down on the other drones before.
"Take a look at what you helped create!!" Naria turned to
him and in one deft move, shoved him over to the now
open window. Zelgadis gazed down upon the sea of
chimeras below him. Each one turned its blue head to
look up at the fabled "First Chimera." Each one looked like
him or his counterpart. "You created them of your blood.
This is the family you never thought you had. This is your
world."
Zelgadis� eyes reverted back to the icy stare he got
whenever he didn�t want to show emotion. He turned away
from the scene below him and faced the girl who blamed
him for the entire thing.
"I didn�t cause this. I didn�t decide to become the successful
one. If I had a choice, I�d sooner kill myself than live like this
without a cure," his voice was one even tone and his eyes
never shifted from her paralyzing glare.
"I�d happily do it for you. I thought that since I had found you,
you could help all of us escape, but now I see the truth.
You�re just here to be my replacement. That�s the only reason
why they made me search for you all these years. You are the
new doll and I�m the old, broken one that�s being thrown out.
Congratulations, Zelgadis Graywords. I hope you enjoy your
new lifestyle," Naria snapped and turned away.
Zelgadis watched her leave the room and turned back to the
plants. They were going to need water, he thought. He leaned
down to pick up the remaining watering can, but was never
able to reach it before the blackness took over his mind.
----------
People crowded around the fallen girl and none of them noticed
the mysterious young man slipping out the back door.
"I made a big mistake�oh hell am I in for it!" he muttered under
his breath and took off towards the direction of the docks.
----------
Gourry awoke and saw Kako standing in front of him. Then he
heard Lina yelling her choice words and closed his eyes again.
Whatever was happening, he was sure Lina could take care of
it. She was smart enough to get herself out of any situation. If
not, he�d be there to protect her as he always did and as he
always would.
----------
Zelgadis slowly opened his eyes and sat up. Someone was
darkening the doorway to his room and he looked up to see
Naria, not one of her clones, but the real thing, standing there
in a pair of denim pants and a black long sleeved T-shirt.
"What are you doing here?" he growled and swung his legs over
the edge of the bed. Someone had removed his cloak and cowl
and had put him there, but who? He�d worry about that later, he
decided and turned his attention back to Naria.
"I came to apologize," she stated flatly.
"You didn�t have to," he replied and picked up his cloak from the
ground next to the bed.
"Yes, I did. The higher ups heard of our little �discussion� and
they want me to apologize. Oh, and I wanted to ask you if that
girl, Lina, and that guy, Gourry, were important to you," Naria
calmly threw him his sword and waited while he nodded.
"Then I suggest you head over to the lab and save them."
Naria turned away and stepped out into the hallway. "Save
them from what took me."
----------
Lina pushed against the constraints and felt the needle go
under her skin. Then she felt her muscles start to relax
against her will and the world slowly went black.
"She is strong," Mirai said as she removed the syringe
from Lina�s arm. "but I still have my doubts, sir. I thought
you said that after Naria, we wouldn�t do this anymore.
You saw what happened to her."
"You still question me, Mirai. Although you are the one who
controls these chimeras and I�m the one who creates them,
still you question me. I have authority over you. Don�t
forget that, my young assistant," Kako hissed and placed
the mask down over Gourry�s face. "Initiate phase one for
Mr. Gabriev."
Mirai stared at him for a moment and then she noticed the
small metal object gleaming in his hands. "Y-yes, sir�"
The mask slowly filled with a yellowish liquid and Gourry
calmly began to breathe it in. Mirai placed a similar mask
over Lina�s face and again the liquid filled the space.
"I�m sorry�" she whispered and brushed back a strand of
hair from the sleeping girl�s face.
----------
Zelgadis stole down the city streets and stared up at the
clear blue sky above him. He only had a few minutes left
before his time ran out.
"NOW WHERE THE HELL AM I?!" he yelled, not noticing a
young man with a bandana tied around his head
screaming the same thing five yards away.
----------
The "real" Zelgadis ran down the white corridor and turned
the corner, almost running into one of his clones.
"C4 ready for duty," it droned and continued walking. A few
minutes later a mousy scientist went screaming after it.
"Wait! You�re going in the wrong direction!! C4! Wait!! Oi!
I can�t run that fast!! WAIT!!" Zelgadis hardly noticed any of
this as he headed towards his goal.
He rounded another corner and stared at the dead end.
"Damn, I�ll never get to the lab�"
Suddenly the wall�blurred and a hand appeared through
the once solid partition. Following the hand came an arm
and the arm was attached to a very amused Naria.
"Not everything here has face value," she said simply and
motioned for him to follow her. He hesitated for a moment,
still a little surprised at how a girl could walk through a
solid wall, and then played Follow the Leader and walked
through.
The corridor behind the "wall" was pure white again and
Naria moved silently along the tiled floor. She turned at
the end of the tunnel and waited for him.
"Zelgadis, I was wrong to accuse you of my fate. If it�s my
destiny to die as a drone, then so be it, but I saw the life
that flows through your friends and I felt bad about how they
were going to turn into me. I�ve seen my entire family get
absorbed into this damn compound and I�m not going to
let yours do the same." She smiled sadly at him and
handed him a small hypodermic needle. "They�ve initiated
phase one already. You�ll have to inject them both with
this or they�ll die the second they�re removed from stasis.
I�m sorry it took me so long to figure things out, but hell, at
least I did."
Zelgadis gratefully took the syringe and exited through the
wall. He found himself inside a darkened laboratory and
his eyes quickly searched the room. Tall cabinets and file
cabinets were stacked up to the ceiling and several
containment tubes were placed throughout the huge room.
At one end was the room with the one-way mirror and at
the other was Lina and Gourry strapped to two separate
operating tables. Zelgadis resisted the urge to yell for
them and slipped back behind one of the file cabinets.
"Well, it�s good to see that you returned home, Zelgadis,"
the familiar voice said sarcastically. The voice held a hint
of arrogance laced with tragedy and anger at its situation
and it belonged to the one person, Zelgadis never wanted
to see again.
Zelgadis turned to meet his enemy face-to-face since
meeting his enemy face-to-back was just plain stupid.
"Hello�Rezo."
----------
"Did I do the right thing�?" Naria asked herself as she
stared at the blank wall. "Yes�now it�s time for me to do
the other right thing."
With that the young chimera turned and disappeared
through the opposite wall.
She emerged in a smaller chamber with several large
camera screens and a huge panel of buttons. One in
particular stood out since it was painted red with a
warning light flashing on it. Beside the button was a
small caption which if Naria had taken the time to read it
would have said: "None but Heero Yuy may push this
button. He would want it that way."
Slowly Naria made her way to the blue swivel chair and
sat down. She made sure she was facing the right
screen and watched as Zelgadis talked to his ancestor.
Well, talk wasn�t the right word. More or less he was
trying to beat the crap out of a dead guy, but it didn�t look
like it mattered to him. Rezo smiled as he always did
and disappeared.
"Old man never did learn how to be subtle�" Naria
muttered as she flipped up the cover of the red button.
"As soon as they�re gone�I promise�as soon as
they�re gone�"
----------
C&C, MSTs, and any type of constructive or non constructive
comments on my piece can be sent to <muteki@juno.com>
Thanks for reading!
Murasakikaze
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