Welcome to Gaia! ::

He nodded andput his hand on tolly's sholder." Lets go check out how our little friend twilght is doing and you hold on to it for now just incase you need to do any other test k? " he walked down the stairs and to the LFO bay he stared up at twilght and waited for tolly to come down behide him."

"What is this thing anyways?? What's Mercury doing? Wha-!!"

Out of nowhere, the coral formation behind Kayako shook slightly. Pieces shot forward like ribbons made of stalagmites while the boy was distracted, wrapping around the girl and forming something akin to a coffin made of the same substance as the wall. Before he had time to react, the whole thing pulled the purple-haired pilot of of his grasp and sank backwards, quickly vanishing as well as it became part of the cave wall.

'You will not interfere....'

At the same time, Asuka was busy trying to get a signal through to the underground; those two had been gone too long. When she finally got ahold of Senturi's location, her radio was bombarded with screams and far-off voices sounding like ghosts. Hearing Gray's voice somewhere in the back ground she closed the door to her room and tried to see if he could hear her.

"Gray? What's going on down there, you guys have been down in that fissure way too long!! Is Kayako okay? She's not answering..."

(((Yay! I managed to write it, even with stupid Naruto on in the background!)))

The intercom buzzed loudly in the bridge, but Quinn was not there to hear it, nor could he have been able to over the ringing of his hammer. He had finally shortened the right wing ever so slightly so that he wouldn't have as much of a problem getting it through the hangar doors. Now with that technical difficulty out of the way, he began work on appearance, polishing the contraption a little bit with a rag from his back pocket. It was a good bit of cloth--faithful, silent, and a little damp, but inside, it had an even more faithful being: Quinn's unnamed pet rock. It had been with him for countless years, never changing, always his accomplice in hurting people.

As his mind danced around the concept of his rag enclosing a rock, it suddenly hit him. Surely a rag covering an object could be called "ragging", thought the deranged pilot. Raggin' a rock! I mean, Ragnarok! What a great name for a ship! That's what I'll name it.

((Just felt like being stupid. xp ))

"Hm?"

Asuka abandoned her post to go check on Reiku, realizing they'd probably think she was crazy if they heard her yelling over the speaker like she was. Walking to the ship's bay area, she walked over the the weird boy and looked to the side oddly.

"Reiku...? Is Tolly around? I want to ask him about something. I heard something weird on the commlink with Kayako just now..."

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"LET GO!! Let go let go you stupid-!!"

Kayako couldn't speak after that, the 'ribbons' wrapped around her were covering her entire body. Before she knew it, she was pulled back and surrounded by the same gooey, clay-colored material that made up the entire cave. They dragged her back farther into the formation, out of reach to the boy outside. Now the girl was starting to panic-this place had no air, nothing to grab onto to pull herself free....no sign of Gray or Mercury anywhere. She could die there, and no one would even know....With this in mind she tried to kick at the binds to get them off her, but the ribbons holding her in place just tightened more, keeping the girl still while slowly, everything around her began to fade into black. After one final struggle, the purple-haired pilot gave up and stopped moving entirely. There was no use for it, the best way was to just be still, and hope that by some miracle she would live though this. The others would save her.....right? The scene fell away, leaving just darkness and the sensation of falling while the girl lost consciousness.

'The girl is right.....' somewhere in the air near the blue-haired boy's spot, a small amount of laughter was barely audible through the silence. Senturi was still, but the LFO's eyes moved to look at Gray in a way not unlike the way it's pilot did when she found him amusing. 'You are a very protective one, that must be why she enjoys your company so much. She will be fine, this one knows where she is. The girl has gone to see someone, someone this one believes you may have met once before...'

The voice sounded metallic, but had a distinct female ring to it.

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For some reason, the feeling of falling continued well after Kayako figured she would be dead. It didn't make sense really; how could someone fall if they were bound by pieces of coral...? This question was answered by her hand touching something dry feeling and cold, right before the girl smacked right into whatever was beneath her, accompanied by a loud crash and a sort of 'gah!' sound. She flipped once, then ended up stretched out on the ground with her hands inches from some kind of furniture.

"Oww......Geez, there just couldn't be a pillow, could there...?"

Standing up, everything was instantly even more confusing. In front of her, Kayako saw a tall wooden bookshelf, stacked high with different colored novels all neatly arranged in rows. They all seemed the same height, but their styles and thickness were varying. The books had no titled written on the sides, which to any librarian would've seem very odd. To the right, the girl noticed that this bookshelf seemed to continue on for a good long ways, and that there were more shelves forming pathways this way and that, all with the same rows and rows of books. The particular section she was in was dimly lit, with a silver table off near the end. The weirdest thing of course was that with all this detail, there was no ceiling. The whole place was under a wide open twilight sky, just there. No building, no entrance or exit is sight.....it was all just strange.

"Weird....how the hell did I get here? I WAS in a cave...right?"

Behind her, the only warning the girl had was a small giggling noise.

"FOUND YOU!!!"

Kayako fell forward for a second before steadying herself on the shelf next to her. Someone had pushed her! That was mean, and the purple-haired girl promptly swerved around to give her attacker a firm slap in the face. What she wasn't prepared for was what greeted her when she did.

Near the center of the pathway stood a young girl, almost the same height as Kayako and maybe a year or two younger. She was wearing short black shorts and a black tank-top with a red star in the center. Both items had tears in various places and the edges were frayed beyond belief. She wore black fingerless gloves on both hands, and the same kind of black lace-up boots that Kayako was often seen in herself. Her hair was just past her shoulders and almost entirely pitch-black, and when this girl finally stopped giggling and looked up, she revealed the same bright, amber-colored eyes as the girl across from her possessed, only lacking the red circle near the center. Seeing Kayako's confused expression, she tilted her head to the side and smiled cutely.

"It's been awhile....I almost thought you'd forgotten about me! Your Kayako right? Weeeeell....I'm Kayako too!"

(((Geez....that turned out LONG! xp )))

(((AAAAAAAH! The bad grammar, it BUUUUURRRNS!!! gonk )))

"Um, it's nothing really. I just wanna see what he thinks of it...."

Asuka turned and walked up the stairs, searching around for Tolly in different places.

"Mr. Tolly? Are you up here? I know it could just be interference but I think you should hear this..."

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"....What, your just gonna stand there and look at me? I brought you here for a reason ya know!"

"You did...?"

"Uh-huh. I told the scubs to bring you here, so I could show you something! It's important that you know what happened before I give you your present. After all, you may not want it unless you remember...."

"Present..? Wait a minute, what...whaddya mean your Kayako too?!"

The girl standing across from Kayako in the library laughed a bit, then grabbed the purple-haired girl's hand. Keeping hold of her she dragged her over to where the lone silver table stood next to a different shelf, and pointed to it. On the surface, a lone book sat closed near the opposite corner. It was a fairly new looking, with a sleek black front cover and a red tassel-bookmark attached. As the girls walked over to it, it became easier to see. Written on the front cover in shiny silver letters were the words "Kayako Wakamiya". The strangest thing though, was that as the younger Kayako picked it up, one could see that it's back cover was purple instead of black, and that halfway through the book the pages started to look older, and worn away.

"This is our book, mine and yours. There's something in here I want to show you.....it'll help you understand why I want to give you your gift."

Quinn adjusted the windshield wiper slightly. He had spotted some kind of winged ant on the window while he was flying and had disposed of it by either batting it off with the cleaners or smashing it inside them. As he bent the wiper ever so slightly, a loud buzzing noise reached his ears, followed by the sudden ascent of the same winged insect. He shrieked and fell back off of the ship's nose, landing painfully on the cement floor.

"Auuuugh," moaned the pilot. He looked to his right and saw his pet rock, shattered into three pieces. His eyes watered slightly and his head pulled itself away from the ghastly scene. Of its own will, his hand covered his face as the silent tears fell from his eyes while the ant above buzzed happily and then got hit by another ship passing through.

Quinn, after coming to terms with the event, gathered together the pieces and headed for the bridge. Most of the repairs were complete, or would be complete soon.

All except for his broken heart.

(((Oh man...*resists the urge to annoy him* Hm. Not working really...)))

'You are....confusing. This one was sure you were able to always feel what the girl feels, correct? Can you not tell she is alright?'

The LFO next to Gray moved it's head slightly to the side to look at him, an action most anyone would find creepy had they not been aware that these mechs were more than just machines. In truth, Senturi was lucky-the scientists had forgotten to put nerve-interceptors in place, hence why it was able to move without a pilot. In most LFO models, the archetypes were unable to do this because nerve activity not originating from the cockpit was blocked.

'You should understand more than anyone what is happening. Mercury came here to be completed, yes? The scub coral took her entire body instead of merely her thoughts for a similar reason. It was part of her wish, one she forgot when those men caused her to leave a part of herself within the coral.'

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"Are you ready? This is gonna show you how we ended up here, in the center of the coral with the others. It was the same day we made our wish, and the last time we saw the outside as one person."

The black-haired version of Kayako picked up the book from the table top and began flipping through the pages, knowing which one she needed for this. After a moment, her eyes fell on the page right before the very center of the novel. It was still the white, average kind of page that the first half of the book held, except for the bottom corner, which was stained with what looked like teardrops.

The girl took a few steps and held the book out to her present self, who after a few second of confusion took it and glanced at the first line of text in front of her. Another bomb dropped in the city that day, only a mile or two from the house.....As soon as she read those words, the entire library seemed to vanish in an instant, as well as the item she was holding. When Kayako looked up, she found herself somewhere dark. Upon further inspection she realized it was a cave, the entrance to which was blocked by a piece of wood. The oddest thing, however was that her body seemed to be transparent........

"KAYAKO!! Come back here, it's raining outside!!"

"SHUT UP RYOUKI!! Leave me alone, just LEAVE ME ALONE!!!"

Someone was screaming, and just then the wood panel was lifted up to reveal a young girl; none other than the past image of Kayako herself, even wearing the torn-up clothes that she had been seen in at the library. But this time it was different. The black-haired girl was upset and crying as she jumped down into the cave away from the voice calling to her. Replacing the panel, she walked straight past the ghost-Kayako and fell against the back of the cave, away from the entrance. Once there, she hid her face in her arms and drew her legs up, mumbling to herself. Outdoors, voices continued to scream for her, obviously unaware of where she was.

"All dead........All of them, they're all dead. Everyone at school....everyone who we used to talk to.....and now even our neighbors too......Everyone keeps dying, and no one's even trying to save them...."

The ghost-Kayako watched her closely, taking a few steps towards the back of the cave. She began to understand what exactly was happening now. This was a memory-her memory, something from before she awoke at the foundation. The alter version of herself now looked up slightly, glancing at the backpack she'd brought down with her, which was emitting a faint, green glow from one of the side pockets.

Carefully, the girl reached over into the pocket and brought out the object behind the glowing. It was a compac drive, an older looking one with red stains near the bottom. She brought it up in front of her face and stared into the center of it where the green light originated, lost in though while she watched the liquid move about inside the device.

"If I had and LFO...." she muttered, clenching the item tighter "If I had an LFO...then I could save them!! I could protect everyone, so they wouldn't be so helpless against those bombs.....Everyone deserves a chance to live, it shouldn't matter where they were born...."

At these words, the compac the girl's eyes were locked on seemed to glow more, pulsing in a slow rhythm, like a heartbeat. The words that echoed in the past-Kayako's mind then echoed in the mind of her present self too, the same voice she'd heard inside the fissure...

'Protect....everyone....?'

"Yes...." the girl said softly, as if not even aware of who or what she was talking to. "That's all I want. I don't care about being a hero...I could care less!! But....I just wish I had the kind of power needed to keep the people here safe.........."

'You wish to keep the people near you safe....? Even though you may die in the process....?'

"Yes....." The past image of Kayako the stood up slowly, her eyes never leaving the drive in her hands. She kept staring at it intently, transfixed on the voice seeming to come from inside it. Still focused on the glowing object, the black-haired girl took a step forward, speaking quietly.

'There are those among us that share this dream as well. But you are the first human to share this information with us.....To protect, that is your purpose?'


"Yes....That's my....wish........" As the girl said this, she tried to take another step forward. But as she did, a pulse went through her. Her eyes went wide for just a moment, no longer than it takes for someone to snap a photograph. In that same instant, she fell forwards, hitting the cave floor without any attempt to stop herself. Kayako watched her former self lay there in a comatose state, her eyes now blank and lacking the kind of 'spark' that every living being possesses. Even as she was, the girl gripped the compac drive tightly, her dark amber eyes not leaving the center of it where the green light had been. The device was dark now, her mysterious contact gone along with her consciousness.

As she watched this, the present Kayako began to notice the scene going dark again. Watching herself stare blankly at the drive, the purple-haired girl let her vision fade out, hearing someone call out again in the distance right before blackness set in. Suddenly she was back in the library, her eyes on the book still in her hands after the flashback. Slowly coming back to 'reality', her hands started to shake and a single tear landed on the page she had been reading, settling next to the old mark of her past memories.

"My.....wish......"

(((Oh man, if the last one was long...then that post was MEGA-LONG!!)))