[Warhammer hops out from the light.]
WH: Hi folks. I'm back and better than ever! And for those of you who have read my stories before; pretend this is your first time.

Teknos Warhammer
Presents:
Shara's Last Gift:
The Prologue

Time:  A short while before Shara's escape from the moon.

    On the dark side of the moon sat a vessel, disabled for a nearly half a year. Inside, a shadow moved limply into the chambers where the woman who was his reason for living was being forced into becoming... What he had become.

    "A freak..." Fritz Wallace mumbled below his breath. The wounds that he had received in his last battle were beyond repair.  The teknopods no longer accepted him as one of their own. Worst of all, Darkon, the alien commander of this ship, had hatched another nightmare.  Just like himself.  Whoever it was, it would hunt him down and complete the job that Slade had not.

    Whether Fritz lived or died, it mattered little. Being as he was, it was more of a blessing to be dead. More than a year ago, he had the privilege to call himself a human. By the standards of ambition, he was a very smart one.

    His young life had very little to speak of. With six generations of his family serving in the military going before him, he had not much choice as to his vocation. He did not mind it too much. Had they offered the choice instead of forcing it upon him, he would not have held back all that resentment towards his parents. Much to his parents' chagrin, when he had become of age, he had decided to join the Argos Exploration project. Such actions had only driven the wedge between them even deeper.

    At first, he figured that he chose to join Ulysses Carter because of his desire to explore. Yet, as the time went on, he realized that the real reason was to separate himself from his parents. As much as he did not like it, the truth was still there... and it hurt. He wanted to love his parents; only God in heaven knew how much he wanted to love them. However, how they felt about keeping the tradition of being in the military was of higher importance than the seemingly fundamental ideal of family love.

    "I could have done something." He said quietly to himself. He repeated that same sentence over and over again. Now, at the end of his life, all the good intentions did not add up to what he had hoped. Which brought to mind a story he had heard a while ago. It was about a man who wanted to change the world, but could not because he could not change himself for the better, especially when he knew it. Fritz' position was no different. He was just like that man: filled with sorrow and regret of deeds undone. Nor could he mend the past scars that he had made himself by his choices.

    However; there was one more thing he could do. His final act to the one that meant the most to him. To the one who helped him to know what it was like to live. The one who helped bring out the kind of person he wanted to be. He owed her much. Now, he could repay her in full with this sacrifice.

He looked up to see the object of his being within the pod. With his fleeting strength, he limped over to the pod, leaned against the glass-like cover and whispered, between breaths, to the person within "Are you still with me?" Seeing no response, he looked over the body of what appeared to be a woman in her early twenties, the base of the neck in particular. If it was there, it was already too late.

    Trying to stay conscious along with trying to concentrate on seeing if the symbiote was inside her neck took all the little strength that he could muster. His eyes widened. The symbiote had not yet inserted itself, but was doing so at that very moment.

He knew the solution, but the question was how.  He couldn't just break through the sealing, her death would only happen quicker. The organic control console would not accept his command. Nor would the symbiote retreat from its course, even if he have a way to communicate with it. Regardless, it had to be stopped. If not, she would become a slave to Darkon, like he was at one time.

His exhaustion began to catch up with him as he leaned against the sealing with his forearm and put his head against it to at least catch his breath. He couldn't die now. Not until she was safe. He couldn't, he wouldn't, he allow himself to die. Not until she was safe.

    His activity caused the woman within to stir and awake. Looking to see her surroundings were different that they were when she had been awake had almost put her into a panic. Yet, she calmed a bit when she saw him standing in front of her. She put her hands against the seal that was holding her and whispered, "Fritz? Is that you?"

    He looked up in surprise and replied, "Are you all right?"

    She smiled a bit sadly, "I've had better days. And you?"

     Dismissing her attempt to cheer him up, he continued, "Listen, the symbiote is right behind you. It's trying to get into your neck."

    The woman turned quickly to see the symbiote moving grudgingly through the glowing green liquid to her, not at all aware that she was awake. "Quickly! Kill it! There won't be another to take its place for a while."

    "But... but how?"

    "Remember? The process enhanced your strength to the point where it should be easy. Just grab the neck and tear off the head. Quick! Before it gets you!" he cried in a panic.

    The woman was scared; nevertheless, she followed Fritz' instructions and soon enough, the small spider-crab shaped symbiote screeched its last and dissolved into nothing.

    "Good." He said with a sigh of relief.

    She turned to him, "What now?"

    "Wait until the end of the process. Once you can, get out and let Slade know what's going on. Tell them about the Ax, Lance, and Rapier, the control pods, everything! While there's still time!" he said quickly.

    "But what about you?" she asked as he began to turn.

    "It doesn't matter what happens to me. If you see any of them, just pretend you're asleep." He said before reaching the exit. "Stay alive... for me, please?" He looked at her straight in the eyes, almost wanting her to agree to what he said. She was about to say something, but his words and gaze silenced her.

    "Good-bye Fritz."

*****

    Now that she was safe, the only thing left for Fritz was to find a place for him to rest. Leaning on the wall inside the passageway, he rubbed his eyes in a futile attempt to try and get a clearer. However, judging from where he had come from, the exit must not be far from where he was. It was only another five to ten meters until he could reach the exit and to find a place to die in peace.

The injuries he had sustained were only getting worse and soon enough, he would die. Nothing could stop that event from occuring. For the most part, it was Slade's fault. Yet, when he reflected on that last battle, a smile started to develop on his face and were it not for the blood that was slowly seeping into his lungs, he would have chuckled. Somehow, what Slade did to him in that last fight...he was almost grateful for letting that happen.

In a way, Fritz wanted to thank Slade for doing that. This way, his sanity was restored for a short while, and better than that, his suffering would end. The thought of dying after one has already 'died' in this sense, was more of a tedious thought than a fearful one.

All that he could do was done and now he was ready to feel death's loving embrace. The night was a symbol of death in some religons. Like as if the light was life and it's inevitable end were no different. Now, all he wanted to do was to wait for his night to fall.

"I'm waiting for the night to fall..." Fritz said, recalling the lyrics to a song which was popular more than a century ago. "When everything is bearable... When, all in the still, all that you feel, is tranquilty." He looked up to see the vast multitude of celestial spheres in space and smiled slightly, "There is a star in the sky... guiding me with its light... and in the glow of the moon, know my deliverance will come soon." He stopped the recitation and began to sink his head into his knees. The pain he was going through was beyond description. Right now, the only savior that he could call upon was death; he wished for it, not at all knowing that it would be granted.

Another voice intruded, "How nice. The failure seeks to amuse himself before he dies." Fritz turned to see a much more menacing, taller, and more powerful, red and black armored giant with a lance that was much more wickedly sharp than his own. Without any hesitation, the newer warrior stomped over to Fritz' form and kicked it out of the ship. Even knowing Fritz' helpless and doomed state, the attacker would not relent.

For the next several minutes, Fritz' desire to die increased several fold as the stranger mercilessly brutalized his already weakened body. Holding up Fritz' body by the collar, the stranger grumbled, "You're not even worthy to be my cannon fodder. Now I can see why the master decided to abandon you, Gunnar. You're just as weak willed as Slade is."

In a blaze of red light, the warrior flew from the surface of the moon and began to fly at a course away from both the moon and earth. From Fritz' only working eye, he turned to see where his torturer was taking him and gasped with horror. "Don't be surprised, Gunnar. You're better off dying this way." With a turn, the fighter's speed increased enormously, spinning faster and faster in place to throw Fritz into the sun! With what little strength he had left, Fritz tried to release himself, but the forces pulling his body apart were a lot stronger. "Farewell Gunnar, your agony will be horrible, but brief. Don't forget about me, Saber, when you burn both here... AND IN HELL!"

With that, Saber released his grip on Gunnar. With nearly the speed of a comet, the latter flew away with no hope of controling his destination, save it were going straight to the sun. When Earth and the moon had vanished from his sight, all hopes of salvation for Fritz were gone. On top of that, the pain Saber had inflicted on him was too much as he felt the pain making him want to pass out. As he began to slip into unconciousness, he whispered his final words to the one whom he had helped save.

"Good-bye, Shara... I love you�"

Then, the night fell.

End of Prologue
[Warhammer watches the final scene from his control ship.]
WH: Sad when it happens to characters you like, don't it? The reason why I say this is because I actually liked Gunnar a bit more than Slade, character-wise I mean. To me, he had a certain gentleman-esque quality about him... well, to me anyway.

    I should probably clarify when this is a bit more than at the beginning of this. The time would be when before Shara emerged and after Slade beat Saber after he went berzerk.

    Don't be surprised at the lack of back-story for Fritz. The reason why is because I got a whole story planned out for that. You need not worry about it now, it shall be dealt with in due time.

    Next; the actual original character of Gunnar, or in this universe, he is known as Fritz Wallace. After reading the Tekkaman Blade manga, I found one picture that was in reference to Dagger/Gunnar and I believe that the person who was changed into that was called Fritz. I then used that and continued to form a character that I believe would be interesting. Why? See previous paragraph.

    Fritz' song came from the well talented British rock group 'Depeche Mode', which is french for 'Fast Fashion'. They came from the 80's, but I've liked them a lot. The have a dark and depressing flavor to their music that makes you feel good. To put it simply, it's depressing, but in a nice way. Get the disc 'Violator'. That one has Fritz's little hope for extinction.

    Can or will Gunnar return? (Shrugs) Got me. What do you, the readers at home think?

    Get ready for the next chapter of SLG: The rewrite!

[Runs back to write more.]

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