Tsubasa no Hikari: Wings of Light

A/N:

First things first, I've had this particular chapter saved on for awhile now, never wanting to put it out there. But I've recently developed a BAD case of writer's block. It's possibly the worst case I've ever had. I sit down to write and maybe put down half a sentence before I get fed up and shut my computer off. So I decided to post this to keep some of my readers occupied until I'm able to post something new again. Sorry about this you guys. But anywho...

Okay, I haven’t seen ANY of the Gundam series in AWHILE. But I was struck with this idea while discussing what I remembered of “Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz” with a friend. So if some of the details are off, please correct me. Oh, and please correct me on the story’s title if it’s wrong. I got help from yet another one of my online friends and she said that Tsubasa no Hikari translated as “Wings of Light”. I know “tsubasa” means “wings” and “hikari” is “light, but I’m still kinda unsure.

-Blue

Screams and shouts rang out, blending with the explosions that shook the ground their anscestors had worked so hard to keep peaceful. People ran, most civilians, and there were some of the military personel who's presence was no longer needed. Chaos, that was what one could call the scene of that night.

Mobile suits clashed, some breaking apart after fighting for days on end. Most of the lower class fighters, on both sides, were either dead or had fled their suits in hopes of survival. But there was one mobile suit that still stood stronger that the rest.

"Tsubasa 36x" was still fully functional, keeping the fleeing civilians from harm as its pilot fired off hunreds of rounds of bullets into the surrounding mobile suits. It was one Gundam to over fifty Cyclopse mobile suits. But even with the odds stacked against them, the naturals fought back and slowly began to push their enemy beyond the range the needed to it their target. "Tsubasa" resembled the fabled "Wing Zero" of years passed, when the colonies and Earth had finally come to peace. Now, they were once again facing each other as enemies. Some colonies had even declared indepedency from both sides and had become neutral.

"Captain! You have to retreat! If you continue like this you'll..." But the radio was cut off with a click as the pilot smirked. "Tsubasa" was a basic replica of the "Wing Zero", but strangely enough its appearance was more feminine. So it was not surprising that when the pilot of the glorious Gundam spoke, the voice was female.

"Fools, do they not realize that my Gundam and I can take on anything? I won't stop until I've pushed them back, when I've ensured the safety of my people." Her voice was slightly ragged, like she was trying to control something from breaking loose. The cockpit of the Gundam was strange compared to that of the older models, for there was nowhere to sit. In recent years, Gundams had come back from the grave and were used as weapons in mass scale martial arts tournaments. At that time the Gundams were still relatively simple, the only changes being that when you piloted the Gundam you became connected with your machine.

"Tsubasa" retained that feature, but now it was much more effective. The pilot basically merged with their machine, meaning if the Gundam lost its arm the pilot would lose function of the adjacent arm for some time. Sometimes even months.

"Come on Lady, we can do this. Let's give these bastards a show!" The woman let out a battle cry as she unsheathed the saber at her hip, making the enemie troops back off slightly. But as she went into a fighting stance, she gasped in alarm as she felt a sickening tingle begin to occur in her feet.

"No! Lady, don't do this!" She cried out in pain as the tingle turned into a burn, rapidly spread throughout her limbs with her growing fear. This had happened before, and like before, she feared for the safety of any within a hundred mile radius of the area. But she actually smirked as her eyes began to haze over.

"Huh, I guess you're right. There's no way we'll ever win without it." Then, with a dark laugh that would normally sound out of place coming from her, she gave into the demands filtering in her mind and with loud cracks cords flew out of various places and struck her skin, entering where they hit. Yet, no matter how many times she was pierced with wires, she bled not one drop.

The whole battlefield seemed to pause as the "Tsubasa" began to glow in a strange light, making those remaining at the command center panic as they fled from the building, all screaming similar things.

"It's the system!"

"The Captain's been taken!"

"She's become one the fabled 'Beserkers' from long ago!"

Panic was thick in the area as the Gundam continued to glow and suddenly, actual feathered wings appeared from the back of the grand machine. But if one were to look closer, they were some form of strange hologram. The Gundam began to glow a fiery red as an ear-splitting scream echoed over the battlefield, making those who knew of the situation run faster.

"Now, you shall know my wrath." The soldiers in their mobile suits shivered at the strange voice echoing eerily over their radios. It was neither male nor female. It wasn't loud, but it held a quiet fierceness that made some of the young people shiver. But those soldiers who had let themselves be distracted by the voice screamed and yelled as their lives flashed before their eyes, as well as the flash of a bright green saber.

One after one the enemy mobile suits fell in a heap of twisted, melted metal and soul after soul left the world of men. The soldiers who dared stay at the base any longer were in horror-struck awe of the glowing Gundam towering over them. But as the near last mobile suit feel, only two being left, a horrible, dark laugh rang out from within the confines of the Gundam.

"Now Lady! Show them all just how strong we are together! We're unstopppable!" The soldiers who had stayed suddenly realized just how much danger they were facing and ran for their lives, their backs turned to the towering Gundam as its holographic wings spread and the entire suit began to glow in a blood red light. Its blade the brightest part of all.

"What the hell is this!"

"What is she doing!"

"She's gonna die with us!"

"She's a monster!"

"No! A demon!" The woman within the Gundam could hear every word they spoke, and she smiled a twisted grin as the wires in her skin finally began to draw blood. She bled as though Niagra Falls was what composed her blood, and had anyone seen such a sight, it would seem as though she were possessed.

In some strange way, she actually was.

The soldiers were greatly scattered now, terrified for their very existance and questioning why they had ever agreed to fight in a war that had already been fought. They were fighting the same war as the people before them, and this time the casulties were becoming startlingly higher with each day. Blood stained the hands of many who were never truly destined to hold such a burden.

Just like the woman within the Gundam known as the “Tsubasa”.

Her eyes were wide and dull with what seemed bloodlust for all those who opposed her, and she readied for another wave of attacks in a swift motion. But before she could make a move, her body suddenly felt as though thousands of knives were being jabbed into her skin.

“No! Lady, I can do so much more! Let us destroy the vermin and end this pointless war!” But apparently her mobile suit had other ideas and the wires imbedded in her skin suddenly pulled free, spraying blood all over the consol as the raven haired woman inside screamed for all she was worth and her eyes went back to normal just before suddenly glazing over again.

With death.

With a gasp, a young woman shot up from her bed. Her breaths were short and frenzied, and her body was soaked with cold sweat even though she was wearing only a tank top and a pair of boxers. She sat up for a moment, letting her heart regain its normal speed as she looked around the room.

It was plain, much to her dislike. She would at least like to paint it black or some other color than plain white. The bed she slept on was only a full sized bed. But she wasn't complaining, she'd gotten the thing for free so why bother waisting her breath. Her clothes were all kept in her small closet so there really was no need for a dresser. The only thing that stood out in the room was the far wall that was covered with different sized flat-screen monitors and some pictures. There was one that even looked like a blue print of a mobile suit. Wires were everywhere, all leading back to the consol for her computer.

'Well, I'm still in my apartment at least.' She thought this to herself as she stretched her arms lazily with a groan, letting her ears listen for any strange noises. She nearly smirked when she heard the usual moans and grunts from above her. It seemed no matter how many times she insisted he needed his rest at night, her best friend paid her no mind when it came to the matter of women.

'He could at least be a little more quieter. I swear, I never know who's screaming.' As if on cue with her thoughts, a rather loud scream echoed from upstairs, making her eyes snap open as she shook her head and threw off her black bed covers. She stood and walked slowly over to her closet, noticing absently that the scream was being followed by several more. And if she knew her best friend like she knew she did, this would go on for about another hour.

"Mia, pull up all cameras facing east." One would have thought the woman crazy just a few years before, but as her main computer screen flickered on and a female head floated there, it became clear who she had adressed.

"Yes Kagome. Is there anything else I can do for you?" Kagome grabbed a pair of baggy black jeans as she considered Mia's question. Then, as she grabbed a black, long sleeved shirt that said "You say 'Tomato', I say 'Fuck you'." she came up with an answer.

"Actually Mia, can you tell me the time?" Behind her the head nodded before flickering once.

"It is four-thirty AM Kagome. Is that all?" Kagome told her that was all and to leave the security screens up as she walked into the bathroom. She could still feel the effects of sleep on her limbs as she dropped her clothes onto the large countertop, and yawned loudly. The sluggish feeling would be gone soon enough, letting a rush take its place as she ran down the quiet streets of what was once the metropolis known as Nwe York City. It was still was city, but after being rebuilt twice, it had been given a new name. Heero City, after the war hero who'd piloted the fabled "Wing Zero" and led the world to peace. But that peace had disappeared after only twenty years, and the Gundams had to be rebuilt. One had been her own.

She sighed as she shook her head, not wanting to begin her day lingering on the same nightmare she'd had every night for the last eight years.

"Mia!" She figured her raised voice was fine, since her lovely friend upstairs made enough noise for her and her entire family, if she had one. Her call wasn't unheard as a small video screen flipped out of the mirror and revealed the digital head of Mia.

"Yes Kagome?" Kagome grabbed her tank top and pulled it off before throwing it over into the corner. Next, she began to take off her boxers as she spoke to Mia.

"Be a dear and have an order made to my favorite coffee shop for..." But as she threw the boxers on top of the top, Mia beat her to it.

"Your usual of Vanilla and English Toffee mixed, with the usual cream of more French Vanilla and a small bit of Vanilla Caramel. I'll get right to it." Kagome smiled at her A.I. as the screen disappeared. She'd only had the program M.I.A. for several weeks, and already the A.I. knew her like a book. In many ways, "Mia" was her friend. She even had emotions to a certain extent.

But she shook her head again as she removed the rest of her clothing and turned on the shower, wrapping a white towl around her as she looked into the mirror.

She was still the same Kagome at heart, if not a little colder, but her appearance had certainly changed. Her hair was longer now, almost reaching past her knees. Her strange, sapphire blue eyes had lost some of their glow, looking dull and dead compared to before. She'd lost weight as well, and it was quite noticable by her fellow soldiers. But most thought better of angering her so they remained silent. She honestly didn't recognize herself when she looked into the stunningly clean mirror sometimes, nearly screaming when she thought someone had broken into her living quarters.

That thought made her laugh as she tested the water, and found it to her satisfaction. Then, as she let the towel drop and she stepped in, she grimaced.

'So much has changed since that night. The last of the Gundams have disappeared and the ongoing war is being fought with simple mobile suits.' She let out a quiet sigh as the scalding hot water rained down on her. She preffered scalding hot showers strangely enough, and it often shocked the few friends she had that she used so much hot water.

'Maybe it's because of that night...the cockpit had grown so hot my sweat seemed to boil as it rolled down my cheeks.' She'd recieved several small burns from that night for simply brushing up against the metal surrounding her. So now, for some strange reason she loved scalding hot showers and freezing cold rain and snow. As the hot water cascade down her body, she began to scrub away the lingering sweat from her nightmare.

She'd been having them every night in varying degrees of realism ever since she'd come out of her coma, nearly one month after the 'incident' as her superiors had adressed it. She began taking medication for insomnia not even a week after being home and she'd been on it since. But no matter how much she took, how relaxed she felt before she slept, or how much she knew it was all in the past, she still woke up every night in varying degrees of terror. The night before last she'd even woken up screaming.

'Strangely enough, I didn't even scream when my own team tried to kill me.' That last thought made her growl slightly as she began to lather her shampoo into her hair.

The last battle she'd fought wasn't the only hardship that plagued her thoughts on a daily basis, far from it. Ever since she'd shed the bonds of her peaceful life and joined the army, her life became one of sadness and regret. She'd held strong, not letting any of it affect her ability or will to fight. She'd lost many friends in the war, one being her best friend since childhood. After just two months, she found her small group of friends even smaller. Therefore, she thought they were more trustworthy.

'And what a fool I was back then.'

Barely a year before the "incident" she'd found herself facing something straight out of her most hellish nightmares.

The base had been strangely quiet for many days, not a single attack or slight alarm. It was almost paradise. But even before that Kagome had sworn she had a gut feeling that something was about to happen, and that something had made chills run up her spine.

She was on guard duty this time, simply leaning back lazily in a metal chair outside the west hanger of the base, her outfit being her training pants, her black boots, and a thin tank top for the humid heat. There was no moon in the sky, no noises in the air, and no life in sight. It unnerved her more than it should have.

“Kagome, I thought tonight was your night off?” Kagome turned and smiled at her dear friend Sango, who was dressed similarly to her except with a high, messy ponytail.

“It is. But I’m filling in for...” But she was interrupted as the bases sirens suddenly hurled into life, forcing her to stand as she looked around with cautious eyes.

“Kagome, I don’t like the looks of this one!” Kagome nodded silently as several soliders opened the door next to them and came sprinting out in various degrees of undress as they pulled on what clothes they could.

“Attention all mobile suit pilots! Please proceed to the north gate and back up the current squad stationed there!” Kagome began to run before the message even finished, her friend close behind her.

“Sango! If anything happens to the base, I want you to take Shippo and get the hell out of here!” Sango answered with a yelled “yes” as they sprinted into the largest hanger on the base and split when they reached the middle, Kagome on the right and Sango on the left.

“Kagome, should we attack to kill? We don’t even know...” Kagome interrupted her though as she began to type her password into the keypad just outside the cockpit of her mobile suit.

“They’re attacking the base when there’s been peace for days straight. They’re here for a reason and we’re supposed to make sure they don’t reach their goal!” Sango blinked once before simply nodding and throwing herself into the cockpit of her gundam, Taijiya, and disappearing behind the metal hatch.

Kagome followed suit and was soon bringing her glorious machine, her partner, to life as her body became the suit.

“Kagome, Girly here says there’s about twenty-five enemy mobile suits. What should we do?” Kagome froze at her friends announcement, none of it making any real sense.

‘Only twenty-five? They must be out of their minds...’

“Just try and find their leader. Remember, cut the head from the snake...”

“And rest of it dies, I know. I’m not stupid.” At any other time, Kagome would have laughed at her friend’s dejected tone. But on this night, something felt terribly off. So off that it sent tingles of warning across her skin.

The two gundams made their way out of the hanger, and once they were out onto the battle field with their weapons of choice drawn, they froze at the sight that greeted them.

“Captain Higurashi! They’re overpowering us!” Indeed they were.

It was plainly clear who was winning this battle, and it seemed as unlikely as when she’d first heard of the numbers. Twenty-five against a mobile army of over at least two hundred? Impossible was the only word that fit all of it. But apparently it wasn’t all that impossible and Kagome knew this as she gave out a cry of fierce determination and charged the enemy forces, feeling unnerved at the lack of an authority figure.

Kagome and Sango fought along side for nearly a half hour, making great progress with Kagome’s favored saber and Sango’s strange, yet effective, giant boomerang made from the same technology Kagome’s saber. The mobile suits were strangely week for the damage they had already inflicted on the base, and both women felt that they were missing an important detail.

“Sango! There’s no head to this snake!”

“I know! It’s almost as if...”

“Leutenant! Captain! Watch out!” Both girls turned to where their fellow pilot had motioned, and their eyes widened as a vague, yet painfully familiar, shape began to form in the clouds of smoke to their left. That’s when the dark, mocking laughter came to their ears and roared above the flames of the fire around them.

“Honestly, it’s a wonder this base hasn’t fallen before now with two pathetic little girls leading it!” Kagome ground her teeth together in a growl, utterly silent in her rage instead of venting like Sango.

“You bastard! We saved you, clothed you, and took you in as one of our own people! As our kin! And this is how you repay us!” The laughter echoed once more, making Kagome’s ire boil further as she clenched her fists so hard it drew blood and made sparks come from the gundam’s knuckles as well.

“You wenches did nothing but brainwash me! You made me fight my blood, my kind!”

“You’re wrong! We never forced you to...”

“Sango! Leave the wretch be!” Kagome’s voice quivered with anger as she lifted her head in such a noble fashion it seemed as though she was a king or queen readying for battle. “For it seems he has weakened enough to let darkness take him!”

“Kagome!” Sango tried to avail to stop her friend as the older girl flew past her in a barely suppressed rage with her saber ready to slice and dice. But the figure, slowing taking on the shape of a mobile suit, laughed again as it fully emerged from the smoke, revealing itself as the gundam model “Iron Reaver”.

“Try and stop me wench! Let’s see how much of an impact a little girl like you can make on one such as me!” The two gundams met halfway in a clash of light and sabers.

Both gundams were the highest in quality and power anyone had ever heard of. One based on the blue prints of the “Wing Zero” and the other based only on myth. Both favoring blades that could slice through any metal, one glowing a bright blue and the other a in a strange golden light. Both had a regal air to them, like the king and queen of the base, and they had been at one time. Best friends since the day they met, only to turn against each other in a battle to the death.

“How could you do this to us! We loved you as family! You WERE family! Why did you betray us Inuyasha!” Had she been able to see inside his cockpit, Kagome would have seen a dark smile grace his rougish features. A smile she could only imagine on him in her darkest nightmares.

“Foolish wench! Your sentiment is wasted on one such as I! One created by science, and idealized from legend and lore!” Kagome nearly lost her footing as the friend turned traitor sliced his saber in a wide arc and forced her to dodge. The cockpit was beginning to heat up immensly, either from her rage or overuse of the gundam, and sweat was running across her skin in strange little trails.

“But why Inuyasha! Why leave us! Why leave our love and protection!” For a moment Kagome thought she’d seen him falter, but the idea was thrown out the window as he snorted and lunged at her once more. He came at her with a speed she’d never seen in him before, his saber glowing fiercly, and in her mind, she saw a twisted grin below a set of glowing red eyes.

Then, just as she raised her saber to fend off his attack, he changed directions and headed for the only person looking away from him; Sango.

“NO! Sango behind you!” It seemed as though the world had slowed to an insane speed as the Iron Reaver’s arm arced and drew the saber from the left hip of the Taijiya to the right shoulder, making a ear shattering, bone chilling, scream echo in the air as the once beautiful gundam exploded into flames and the suddenly, the world was at full speed again and Kagome, as well as Tsubasa, fell to her knees.

Tears refused to come, yet the burn of their presence was there in her eyes as her only friend left burned to nothing and the traitor she’d loved with all her heart and soul turned to her, glowing with a malevolence matched by nothing she had ever seen.

Kagome sighed as she rinsed a final time and stepped from the shower as she turned it off. Grabbing a towel and wrapping it around her, she looked into the mirror and grimaced. Many people had said it rather ironic that such a pretty, unblemished face had seen things many haggard faces could not handle. How ironic it was that she had been filling in for the very person who had tried to destroy everything she held dear.

But he had failed, and as she turned from her reflection in disgust she felt thankful with all of her heart and soul that the few people she had left were still alive after that horrible nightmare.

The security videos were still playing in her room as she entered and walked to her bed, expecting her clothes to be there waiting for her. But when they weren’t, she raised an eyebrow and called out for Mia again.

“Yes Kagome?”

“Mia, where did my clothes go?” The virtual head was silent for a moment before simply laughing in a strange, almost human way.

“I do believe you took them into the bathroom with you.” Kagome looked puzzled for several moments, even going as far as to scratch her head before snapping her fingers and running back into the bathroom and throwing on the clothes awaiting her.

By the time she finished, Mia had already begun her daily scan of her systems. Shaking her head at her own forgetfulness, Kagome walked from her room and down the hall quietly. Now Kagome was far from a quiet person on a daily basis, but there was a verifiable reason for her tip-toeing. That reason being the small form that slept bundled up on the couch in the living room, the TV lighting the lump in the blankets oddly as she stifled a laugh and headed into the kitchen.

“Kagome-mama, I’m not stupid.” Kagome froze with a guilty look on her face, her hand just barely touching the refridgerator door.

“Why, I never said you were!” Her tone was light and mocking, strange for the time of morning, and the lump on the couch suddenly came alive as it sat up and snorted, scratching its head in a lazy sort of way.

“Well, I’m certainly not deaf. You make enough noise to wake the dead!” Kagome snorted as she bent over and opened the fridge fully, reaching for a large bottle of CapriSun she’d grown quite fond of since the company had made its servings much larger.

“No, just enough to wake spoiled rotten youkai kits.” The figure laughed as it stood and stretched, its form being that of a young male around his early teens.

“Ah don’t sound so upset! It’s a fact kitsune’s have incredible hearing!” Kagome rolled her eyes as she uncapped her drink and began to chug it down, the young youkai coming to stand in front of her and then observing her with bright green eyes as she quirked a curious eyebrow as she continued to chug.

“You had the dream again, didn’t you?” Kagome growled as she removed the drink from her lips and capped it, her thirst suddenly quenched. For the moment.

“No, I slept rather well thank you very much!” The young boy smirked as he crossed his arms and leaned bakc against the kitchen counter across from her.

“Uh huh. So then what’s the reason for the paleness and dark circles under the eyes huh?” Kagome growled again and walked past him before grabbing her black coat, checking to make sure she had a weapon in it, and then grabbing her keys from a bowl sitting on the dinning table.

“That is none of your business Shippo. Now I suggest you clean up your mess and finish your Algebra so you’re not late again.” With that, she simply turned and walked out the front door, slamming it behind her as she took off at a nice pace in the frosty morning air.

The streets of the city were empty, the sun not having even risen yet at five past five in the morning. Much of the landscape that was still green or noticable was frosted over and glimmering in the light of streetlights. Stars still hung high in the sky, though their light had diminshed from the slowly brightening light of the rising sun. Several cars drove by as she walked down the street, her damp raven hair slowly drying as some strands began to dance in the cold wind of early winter.

She’d loved the eerie peace of winter mornings for many years, even before the war had begun. Snow was a blanket she loved beyond any other, rain was her source of cleansing, and the violent storms the first two often made up were her source of entertainment and release. She felt so alive in storms, the static electricity of lightening charge her blood and making it grow to a strange boil.

It gave her the same feeling as when she’d first became a pilot at the age of fifteen. Thrown into a war fought long before her birth and being reborn on the day of her fifteenth birthday. She had bet many times that she would never know if this was all a sick twist of Fate, or if she was just overdoing it.

And Fate was indeed twisted when it came to her life.