"A Pair of Angels"

Citan sighed as he looked about him, concerned. He, Aireel and Fei had been put onto an Aveh freighter and locked into one of the quarters while Weltall had been tied down outside...and they were now headed for a concentration camp.

Fei was fast asleep on one of two beds in the room...although from what he could tell, the young boy was having nightmares.

Grahf...the last thing Fei needs is for that...maniac to reappear. We were lucky that he did not appear this time...but even luck has a bad habit of running out, he thought.

Aireel was curled up in one corner of the room, also fast asleep. She had refused to rest on the bed, not saying why. Strangely enough, he wasn't surprised.

He looked forward, out of the small porthole that served as a window and suddenly saw something in the mind's eye, just as when he was in Blackmoon Forest...

He had been walking to somewhere in the 3rd level when he saw what he thought was the strangest sight...a small girl was laying on the floor, just barely hanging over the ditch that was in the center of the level.

What in the... he thought and quickly ran to her and pulled her up before she could teeter off the edge.

"What in the world were you doing on the edge?" he asked her almost angrily.

"I was trying to look for the bottom," she said in a matter-of-fact voice, "To see where the people land."

"Trying to--" he said, not knowing whether to laugh or be mad at her, then decided to shake his head a bit ruefully, "That ditch is bottomless...or so we are told. Didn't the guards tell you that?"

"Actually," the little girl said, "I came here two days ago from the...what was the word...infirmy?"

"You mean infirmary?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied with a little smile.

Her family was probably demoted, he thought but said out loud, "Where's your parents?"

"I don't have any," she replied in an irritated voice, "My mom disappeared a few weeks ago and I never had a father."

"You're living down here by yourself?" he asked, shocked.

"Yep, in F Block."

"I live in F Block too," he replied.

She laughed and asked, "Never thought a little kid would be living here, too."

He retorted, slighted by the remark, "A little kid? I'm eight years old! You're the one that's little. You're what, four, five?"

"I'm four and I didn't mean to make you mad. I've only seen grown-ups for as long as I can remember," she explained, flinching a bit.

He shook his head and said, "I'm sorry. What's your name?"

She said with a relieved smile, "Aireel. What's yours?"

"You'll laugh," the young boy said to her.

"No, I won't," Aireel said as the two started to walk to the F Block.

He took a deep breath and said, "It's...Hyuga."

She smiled as he said, "Please don't laugh. Everybody laughs about my name, they say it's too weird for a someone descended from Lambs."

"No, no," she quickly said, "I wasn't thinking that at all."

"What's with the strange smile then?" he asked her, wary.

"It's a beautiful name."

Citan smiled a little bit as he remembered this...it had been the first time someone had not made fun of his name, much less paid him that kind of a compliment.

"When I met Yui, she said the same thing...that it was a beautiful name," he whispered and turned to look at the sleeping young woman, "Why did they not want me to remember even one thing about you?"

He heard a sudden sound from across the room and saw that Fei had awakened and was walking on the floor, being careful of where Aireel was.

"How are you, Fei...did you sleep well?"

The young man said after a minute, "Ah...well...sort of."

"Sorry I messed up," he continued, "I was careless. Weltall was a highly experimental Gear stolen from Kislev, it was perfectly understandable that Aveh would be madly searching for it as well."

Fei didn't reply.

"Were you hurt?" Citan asked quietly, worried, "You do not look so well."

The young man sighed and said, "I guess...you could say I was hurt."

The doctor nodded and said, "Grahf spoke of your father's fate...is that what is worrying you?"

"Partly. It's the other stuff he said, too...like him sending those Gears to Lahan to make me get into that Gear...or so he claims."

The older one blinked and asked, "To get you into the Gear...?"

"Doc, when I was in Lahan, I lived without doubting myself...now, it's different. I don't know who I am...the maids in Lahan told me that I was brought in by a masked man and that in my delirium I called out for my father. No one knew anything else."

"There is nothing we can do while we are still prisoners...even if we wanted to. Perhaps," Citan said slowly and quietly, "we should get some rest. It may help sort out your feelings a little."

Fei nodded and lay back down.

It was him! No mistake....that was no coincidence. I wonder...could we be approaching...The Time of the Gospel? he thought...then felt himself disappear.

The next thing he knew, he was standing on a small, white platform and paintings of all kinds spiraled around the strange room.

In front of him was a giant throne...and on it sat a rather large being, too strange to be called human.

"Yes, the Gospel," the being said, "We are the people exiled from the paradise in the sky when God went to sleep, taking Paradise with Him. For many centuries, we have lived on the earth, where conditions are too cruel to exist. We will soon be able to return to that place, in the presence of God and live there eternally... That is the Time of the Gospel. That time is now at hand."

Citan quietly nodded, listening.

"We, the Gazel, must awaken God and find his resting place before then. That is our final prayer," the being continued.

"Our final prayer?" the doctor asked.

"Yes, our final prayer. The last hope of escaping our fate that was determined at our genesis..."

He then felt himself disappear again, although it was more...gradual than the way that brought him to the strange place.

He found himself back in the locked quarters, standing. Both Fei and Aireel were still sleeping, the former snoring while the young woman was surprisingly quiet.

Majesty...is this the end? he thought and carefully walked over to the porthole.

"Look alive, Lieutenant," he heard Aireel say out loud, "Don't treat this as a drill.."

He turned to look at her, puzzled.

"World's sakes, if everyone treated a drill as just a drill, the Empire would be destroyed by Aveh and Gebler," she muttered, "Hmph, recruits...slow, pampered..."

She is still asleep, he thought, Dreaming about military life, I assume...but why? The last I knew, she was not the type to be in the military.

A couple of minutes later, she said in a low voice, "Please...don't die. I couldn't stand it if you died...Citan, please, you must not die!"

He asked out loud, "Why would something happen to me?"

She shook her head and said as though hurt, "My fault...He's dying and it's my fault."

"Aireel, wake up," he said, shaking her arm, "Wake up."

She opened her eyes shortly and looked at him, confusedly blinking.

"You're all right," she said.

"You were having a nightmare."

She sighed and sat up, saying, "It was horrible..."

Before either one could say anything further, they felt and heard a rumbling coming from a short distance outside.

"Too soft for an earthquake," she muttered, "More like something surfacing."

Citan helped her up, then went to the bed that Fei was sleeping in, saying, "Fei, wake up," while shaking him, although a bit more roughly than when waking her.

The young man grumbled as he woke up, asking, "What's going on?"

"I think we have company," he replied, "Let us have a look through the porthole."

The three of them walked to the porthole and as Fei and Citan looked through it, Aireel grumbled, "I may not be able to do anything about my height, but they can make the stupid hole a bit bigger..."

"Sorry," Fei said and moved over a little bit so that she could see.

"Thanks," she said then watched as a large, metal object rose from within the desert sands...looking almost like a large, long bullet.

"That thing looks familiar."

"A sand cruiser...it must be the sand pirates," Citan remarked.

The others nodded and the three were not able to do much other than watch as the strange vessel started firing.

A short time after they started firing, the entire ship shook.

"Oh-oh!" the doctor said when it shook in a severe manner.

"That one hit near here," Aireel said, trying to keep her balance.

Suddenly, it seemed that the everywhere was tipping over on its side.

"Judging from the angle, I would say that shell has penetrated the hull," he told them, "It will be a few minutes before we sink."

"A few minutes...doc!" Fei exclaimed.

"We have to get out of here," Citan said and walked over to the door, trying it, then added, "It is locked."

"Typical of Aveh to let the prisoners die," she said, shaking her head.

"Quiet," Fei shushed her as the doctor yelled, "Someone free us!"

There was no reply.

"Arrgghh!" he said, frustrated, and without really thinking about it he grabbed the door and pulled.

To Aireel, the door seemed to flash red for a moment before it was torn from its hinges.

How in the world did-- she thought then shook her head, I don't have time to be wondering that!

Almost instantly, the room started to fill with sand as Fei shouted, "Let's get out of here!"

The other two nodded and followed close behind Fei as the young man ran out of the room and turned left.

"Where are you going?" Aireel asked.

"There's a ladder this way," he called back to them.

They nodded and ran towards the direction indicated and saw a ladder going down into the engine room.

"Here we go," Fei called out and quickly climbed down the ladder.

"I hope he knows what he's doing," Aireel said and waited for Citan to climb down before she did herself.

As Fei and Citan walked from the ladder to what appeared to be the engine room, a pillar of sand started pouring down....and the latter heard a small screech.

"That was close," Fei said, looking back.

"Wait," the doctor called out, "Aireel is still back there! Aireel!" and ran back to the ladder.

He saw a hand emerge from the sand that was now piling on the floor and grabbed it, pulling.

After a few seconds, Aireel emerged from the sand pile, coughing.

"Are you all right?" he asked her.

She was coughing too hard to speak, but she nodded and waved her hand as if to say, "Go on."

Citan shook his head, put an arm around her and walked onwards, saying, "I will not leave you behind."

"Is she all right?" Fei asked as the three continued on.

"I took in a little sand," she managed to say, "But at least I'm breathing."

"We will see when we reach safety," the doctor replied as they climbed a set of stairs that led to an upper floor.

As they walked on the floor, they ran into guards, and even though Aireel was having trouble breathing they still managed to take them out.

Below them the floor started to explode, causing some of the second floor plates to fall and holes in the section below formed, revealing fire below.

"This place is falling apart," Aireel said, "I'm slowing you two down, go on."

"No, not without you," he replied, and thought, I will not lose her a second time...why am I thinking that?

"The ladder up is over here," Fei called out, jumping over a hole and waving over to the other two.

"Can you jump?" Citan asked.

"I think so," she replied and jumped over the hole, landing a bit unsteadily.

He jumped over it with ease, landing beside her.

"Let's go," the young man in front of them said and started climbing up the nearby ladder.

The other two nodded, got up and followed close behind...thankful that no sand piles would fall on them.

As the three stepped away from the ladder in what appeared to be a cargo room, it suddenly was engulfed in flames.

"Whew, that was close," the doctor said in a low voice.

"No kidding," Aireel agreed.

"I recognize this layout," Citan added, walking on ahead, "Both of you follow me."

They nodded and tried to keep up with him.

"He's still fast," she said, "Never could beat him in a foot race."

"Don't feel alone there," the young man beside her said, "I can't either."

Again, a few guards got in their way, but the enemy did not stay in their way for long.

Fei looked at Aireel and saw that she was out of breath.

"Hold on, we're almost there," he said to her, "Doc, slow down! Aireel's running out of air!"

"Sorry," they heard him say as he walked back to them.

Citan then caught her as she was about to fall and said, "Fei, go on ahead. We will be right behind you."

The young man nodded and went up the nearby ladder.

As Fei opened the door that lead outside, he looked behind him, expecting to see Citan and Aireel behind him.

They were nowhere to be seen.

"Where are you, doc?" he called out.

"Fei! Can you hear me? We are moving the crane towards Weltall's cockpit! Hurry and get to Weltall, we are going under fast!"

That came from above and behind.

Fei nodded and said, "Okay...but when you do, you two hurry up, doc!"

Right away, the crane started moving to the right until it was straight, rather than diagonal.

He sighed and started running, carefully, of course, across the crane's top and towards the edge. A couple of times, he slipped and nearly fell, but he was able to pull himself up and keep running.

A couple of minutes later, he was at the edge of the crane, looking down at the cursed black Gear below.

"Here we go again...you and I seem to have a fated relationship," he muttered darkly before jumping onto the Gear.

Citan saw Fei jumping off of the crane's head then nodded to himself before turning to Aireel with concern.

"How do you feel?" he asked softly.

"I coughed up some of the sand, so I'm a bit better," she replied, "I'm fine, really."

"We will see soon," he simply replied before he saw Weltall hover towards them.

Aireel got up and stood with him near the edge and both quickly got into the hand.

"Hold on, you two!" Fei called out over the intercom right before the Gear suddenly took off, landing some distance away almost instantly.

Citan looked somewhat pale...to Aireel, that is then he groaned softly before jumping from the hand to the sand.

"Whoops," he said as he walked a bit unsteadily.

Is he airsick? she thought.

"Are you all right, doc?" Fei asked.

Suddenly, the doctor started laughing and said, "Well, Doctor Citan Uzuki! It looks like you have sacked your saccules and tickled your ultricles enough to last one life time! Wow, dizzy!"

Oh great, he's not used to Gears, she thought just as she heard Fei ask, "Are you really all right, doc?"

"Fei, I was only joking. Riding in the hand is not that bad. I can see what is so good about this experimental model," he replied and saw that Aireel was either quite angry or alarmed.

"Why, you little--we were really worried about you! You always had bad timing when it comes to those practical jokes of yours!" she nearly shouted.

He looked at her a bit apologetically and listened as Fei started talking about how the systems kicked in automatically.

"Really...? Amazing!" he replied.

"No kidding," she said, "Neither of my Gears have that...I don't think..."

"What did you say?" Fei asked.

"Oh, nothing," she said sweetly as she thought, Blast it...I forgot for a moment that they don't know.

"Let me help you down from there," Citan said and proceeded to do so.

"You leave your friends to die while you run away....haven't you heard of comradeship?" they heard an unfamiliar voice ask over an intercom.

The three turned and saw three Giant red Gears standing together with weapons ready to fire.

One Gear that caught Aireel's attention was a darker red than the other two and had an eyepatch over one of the eye sensors.

"It isn't very manly of you three to leave a platoon behind while you run in a Gear, is it?" the person inside that Gear sneered, "Oh, pardon me...one of you is a lady, and a lovely one at that."

At that, the strange red Gear and Weltall, after some discussion about Fei's identity, started fighting, the former using what looked like whips and rods.

"Citan, does that Gear look familiar to you?" Aireel quietly asked him.

"I have not seen it before," he replied, "I am surprised that, considering your stubborness, you are not interfering in a one-on-one battle."

She gave him a withering look and said, "I do know better."

"Aireel...may I ask you something?"

She shrugged and replied, although she had to shout over the battle noises, "Sure."

"Were you...involved with the millitary?" he asked, somewhat afraid to know the answer.

"Why?"

"In your sleep," he explained, "You sounded like someone who was, grumbling about recruits."

"I didn't talk in my sleep, did I? How embarrassing," she grumbled.

"Well, were you?" he asked.

"My father is in the military," she said quietly and closed her eyes, feeling a bit lightheaded and not wanting him to know it.

The sand in her lungs was causing more problems than she was letting on...and the air wasn't helping things any.

"Aireel?" she heard him ask, "Are you all right?"

She didn't reply at all, but let herself drift away...

"Aireel?"

He sounds really worried...

"Is she all right?" a new voice asked.

"She took in some sand a short time ago as we were escaping," she heard Citan reply.

"She isn't breathing," the second voice said.

"She is, but barely. Sigurd..."

She then faintly felt something, or someone pick her up and heard the one called Sigurd say, "Show him the way to the infirmary."

Although she felt herself losing consciousness completely, she managed to ask, "Hyu...Hyuga?"

"Please," she heard him reply, "Hold on, Aireel...hold on..."

While Citan was taking Aireel on board the sand cruiser's infirmary, the two fighting Gears suddenly disappeared as they sand into the sands.

On the surface bridge of the cruiser, which Citan learned was called Yggdrasil, A silver haired man and he stood near the wheel, discussing the cruiser's captain as well as the circumstances that brought them here...and the decision to go to a rendeznous point and wait there for Fei.

"I never thought I would see you here, Hyu," the former said.

"It is not coincidence," he replied, "It is an inevitable consequence...I assume."

"Hyuga...are you saying something is about to happen?"

He sighed and nodded, looking towards the nearby hatch.

"You'll worry yourself to death, the nurse and doctor will take good care of her. As soon as something happens, they'll tell us."

"I should have seen it, Sigurd. I should have seen that she was worse than she was letting on."

Sigurd laughed and said, "She probably was trying to not upset you. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you two were a couple...By the way, who is that woman you carried on board? She knew your actual name."

"Ah...her name is Aireel."

Sigurd turned pale and asked, "Not Aireel Belsanas?"

"Yes."

He shook his head and said, "I should have known..."

A nurse suddenly came out of the hatch and walked over to the two men.

"Excuse me...which one brought the young woman in?"

"I did," Citan replied, worry visible in his eyes, "How is she?"

"There was a sizable amount of sand in her lungs, more than the 'little bit' you said," the nurse reported, "For a bit, we thought she was going to die."

"How is she?" Sigurd asked her, seeing his friend's reaction.

"She's sleeping right now, but all the sand has been removed. She's going to be fine, but she needs to rest a few days. I'll let you know when you can see her, doctor," she replied, directing the last part to Citan.

"Thank you, nurse. See, I told you she'd be okay. Now go gest some rest. You look like you need it."

"I will," the doctor replied, looking relieved, and walked from the raised part of the bridge to the hatch, but not before saying to the nurse, "Thank you."