The Ingrid hangers were almost completely deserted, the pilots and their repairers off doing whatever various things they did to pass the time between VICTIM attacks. It was rare, however, that no one be in the hanger – and for this reason, meetings such as the one about to take place were held infrequently.

Teela Zain Elmes stood before the White Ingrid, Ernn-Laties, and sighed. “It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? A long time since we have been able to talk freely, away from them.” She turned to look at the other four Ingrids lined up next to her.

From the Blue Ingrid, Eeva-Leena, a young girl emerged. In sequence, three more appeared from the other three Ingrids. “It has been,” Elia agreed, smiling at Teela. “You haven’t spoken to us individually for awhile, either, First.”

“She’s right,” Silfee, the Goddess of Agui-Keimeia, the Orange Ingrid, said.

“I’ve been busy,” Teela said. “I apologize for any neglect of you, sisters. Which reminds me – how is it going with your new Pilot, Heltage?”

The Goddess of Reneighd-Klein, the Green Ingrid, sighed dejectedly. “I miss Ernest,” she said softly. “Erts is okay, but…”

“Don’t get so down,” the Goddess of Tellia-Kallisto, the Red Ingrid, advised. “You’ll see that it will all work out in the end.”

“Callia is right,” Teela said. “Not even VICTIM can disrupt the Age of Rebirth.”

The other four Goddesses looked hopefully at Teela. “Do you mean you’ve confirmed it?” Silfee breathed. “You’re certain? This is the Age of Rebirth?”

“I’m positive,” Teela said. “As you know, I opted to become a Pilot so that I could easily keep an eye on the comings and goings of GOA. There is no doubt in my mind who the current Pilots and their Repairers are.”

“But what about the other five?” Elia demanded.

“They are currently at GOA as Pilot Candidates and Repairer Candidates. You’ve already made contact with one of them, Elia.” Teela looked at the Goddess pointedly, and Elia, thankfully, got the point.

Heltage didn’t look convinced. “But we’ve lost Ernest,” she said.

“Except that up until that point, there was a time when they were all accounted for,” Teela told her. “And there’s more. We also know that Caretaker and the Doc have been reborn – and I’ve spoken with Second Team.”

This announcement caused the other four Goddesses to stare at the First in shock. “You’ve spoken to them?” Callia asked in amazement. “You’ve actually spoken to them? How?”

“The fleet is within range,” Teela replied. “As you’re aware, it’s been nearly a century since they were last here. Syrie, Mina, Allain, Himeko, and Osira send their love, and are ecstatic that they’ll be reunited with us soon.”

“A reunion,” Elia whispered happily. “It’s been too long since we ten were all together.”

“What do you think, Teela?” Silfee asked. “When will the time come?”

“Soon,” Teela said. “The fleet will be the first to make their move. Contact should be made within a week, which means that Heltage needs to be ready.”

“I do?” Heltage looked at Teela in confusion. And then, slowly, realization dawned on her face, and her eyes lit up as she smiled for the first time since the meeting had started.

A few minutes later, Teela bade farewell to her sisters and left the hanger. She stepped out into the GIS hallway and paused at the large observation window several feet down the way. She stared out at the vast sea of stars and for the first time, allowed the shadows of the past to rise up briefly.

~*~

“We’ll always be together…right? All of us?”

“Sou desu ka, Ki. Always.”

~*~

Teela felt something wet on her face, and reached up to touch the tears. “I’m crying,” she whispered. “But are they tears of happiness…or tears of fear?”

Kaze ga yose ta kotoba ni

Oyoi da kokoro

Kumo ga hakobu ashita ni

Hazu n da koe

Tsuki ga yureru kagami ni

Furue ta kokoro

Hoshi ga nagare kobore ta

Yawarakai namida

Suteki da ne

Futari te wo tori aruke ta nara

Iki tai yo

Kimi no machi ie ude no naka

Sono mune

Karada azuke

Yoi ni magire

Yumemiru

Kaze wa tomani kotoba wa

Yasashii maboroshi

Kumo wa yabure ashita wa

Tooku no koe

Tsuki ga nijimu kagami wo

Nagare ta kokoro

Hoshi ga yurete kobore ta

Kaku se nai namida

Suteki da ne

Futari te wo tori aruke ta nara

Iki tai yo

Kimi no machi ie ude no naka

Sono kao

Sotto furete

Asa ni tokeru

Age of Rebirth

Chapter One: Calling

Come to me, Erts.

Please. Find the truth.

I’m waiting.

Come to me, otouto…

Erts Virny Cocteau woke in a cold sweat, sitting up so fast that he had to lie back down again or risk passing out. The youngest of the Ingrid pilots wrapped his arms around his torso and shivered in the darkness of his room. As he had every night for the past month.

It was always the same. The dreams had started without warning, and they hadn’t stopped. Every night he went to bed thinking, maybe tonight they’ll stop. But they never did. They were always the same.

Ernest.

His brother’s voice, calling to him. Telling him to come to him. Begging. Sometimes the dialogue was different, sometimes the same, but it always carried the same message. And Erts didn’t know why, exactly, but the message scared him. It just didn’t make sense.

Find the truth.

What truth?

Erts threw back the covers and rose from the bed, reaching for the switch to turn on the overhead light. He groaned when he saw the clock – it was only two o’ clock in the morning. Everyone else on GIS would be fast asleep, like he should be. Erts had always been a light sleeper, but usually he got some sleep. These dreams had been doing a number on him, and it had started to show in his piloting. Reneighd-Klein must be disgusted with me, thought Erts as he shook his head.

Come to me, otouto. Little brother.

“What are you trying to tell me, Ernest?” Erts whispered, leaning against his dresser and putting his hand up to his forehead. “Why are you reaching out from beyond the grave now?” Any normal person would believe that they were going insane, listening and talking to the voice of their dead brother, but Erts and Ernest had always had a strong bond, as brothers and telepaths. There was no doubt in the younger’s mind that if this voice sounded like Ernest, it had to be Ernest.

I’m waiting.

Waiting? For what? And where?

“I don’t understand!” Erts nearly shouted from near frustration. Then he clapped his hand over his mouth when he realized that, yes, it was 2 a.m., which meant that everyone, including the person sleeping in the next room, was fast asleep.

A minute later, there was a knock on the door, and Erts grimaced. “It’s open.”

The door slid up, and a very sleepy-looking Gareas Elidd stepped…or staggered…into the room. He winced at the brightness of the light and reached for the switch to dim it a bit. “Something wrong, Erts?” he asked, stifling a yawn with his hand.

“No,” Erts said a little too quickly.

Garu eyed him shrewdly. “You haven’t been sleeping well, have you? But that’s not a good excuse to be depriving others of their sleep.” He flashed Erts a quick half-grin, but immediately got rid of it when he saw the ragged look on the younger pilot’s face. “Erts? You know you can talk to me, right?”

Erts nodded. “And I will – would, if something was wrong. But there isn’t. Anything wrong, I mean. Nothing is wrong, so there’s no reason for us to talk.”

“Erts?” Garu arched an eyebrow skeptically. “You’re babbling.”

“No, I’m not babbling,” Erts said. “I am not babbling. I don’t babble.”

“It’s two a.m. and you’re babbling.” Garu folded his arms across his chest and looked at Erts pointedly. “Erts. What’s wrong?”

Erts stared at him with tired eyes, then sighed and sat on the bed, relenting. Garu walked over and sat on the edge of the bed next to Erts. “Now, come on. Tell Uncle Gareas what’s the matter.”

Erts smiled slightly. “You’re a total nut, you know that?”

“Hey, I just got woken up by a not normally but very loud when he wants to be pilot. I’m running on about two hours of sleep here,” Garu said defensively, tucking his hands behind his head and stretching out on the bed.

“So I guess that was Leena I heard failing to be quiet on her way back to her room,” Erts teased. Then he ducked the pillow that came flying his way. “These walls aren’t soundproof, my friend.”

“Don’t change the subject,” Garu said quickly. “We’re talking about you, not me. Believe me, I have no trouble sleeping. You have. And since any day now there could be another VICTIM attack, we need to fix that problem.”

Erts sighed. “Garu?”

“Yeah?”

“Why does it happen?”

Garu sat up and looked at him. “Why does what have to happen?”

Erts felt tears welling up in his eyes. “It’s been a year, and it still hurts. I can still hear his voice, Garu.”

Garu felt his own chest ache as he realized what Erts was saying. “Oh, Erts,” he whispered. He leaned over and wrapped his arms around the smaller boy as Erts’ tears began to fall. Damn it, Gareas, don’t you start crying, too.

“You still cry?” Erts whispered.

“Not as much,” Garu said. “Ernest was…he was…well, my best friend. I don’t have any illusions. What could have been…what might have been, that’s all in the past. Even if Ernest were to suddenly show up out of nowhere, alive and well, I don’t think things could ever have been as they were, or as they would be. I’m ashamed to say this, but I’ve moved on. I’ve put him to rest.”

“Then why can’t I?” Erts asked, clutching Garu’s arms. “Why can’t I move on?”

“He was your brother,” Garu said simply. He reached up to stroke Erts’ soft blond hair. “I know that the two of you rarely got to see each other, but I also know that the bond you shared was deeper than any other pair of siblings I’ve ever seen. Even more than Yu and Kazuhi, and you know how close they are.”

“I’m scared, Garu,” Erts whispered. “I…I keep hearing his voice. In my dreams. Every night. And I haven’t had dreams like that in months.” Erts reached up and swiped at his eyes. “What’s happening to me?”

“You’re not the only one who dreams,” Garu assured him. “Sometimes our sub-consciousness detects grief even after we think we’re over it.”

“You’d make a good psychiatrist,” Erts said, pulling away from the older pilot and smiling at him.

“Only when I’m half-asleep, and even then I’m only repeating what Leena told me when I was having trouble sleeping,” Garu said offhandedly. He eyed Erts in concern. “You okay now?”

“I think so,” Erts replied. “At least, I’m pretty certain I’m not going crazy. The dreams just seemed so real, they were scaring me.”

“Well, memories can seem real in dreams. And then you wake up.’ Garu stood and stretched, then headed for the door.

“But they aren’t memories.”

Garu stopped, turned, and stared at him.

“It’s just his voice,” Erts whispered, looking down at his hands. “And the words vary. Sometimes he tells me he’s waiting. Sometimes it’s that he wants me to come to him. Other times he tells me to find the truth, whatever that means.” His voice grew softer and softer until Garu had to strain to hear him. “But sometimes he just says one word, and I think it scares me the most out of everything.”

“What?”

Erts looked up, his eyes locking with Garu’s. “’Soon’. He just says ‘soon’.”

A chill went down Garu’s spine, and he struggled not to shiver from it.

“Garu?”

“Yeah?”

“Would you…stay in here tonight? I don’t want to be alone.”

Garu nodded. “Yeah. I’ll stay.”

After that, he didn’t think Erts should be alone, either.

*****

Leena Fujimura crept down the darkened hallway and silently prayed that she wasn’t going to run into anyone she knew or who knew her – which was pretty much everyone on board GIS. Although she knew that the every person knew or at least suspected that her relationship with Gareas was definitely in the physical category, she felt absolutely no need to go broadcasting it by making a big deal when she was sneaking back to her room.

She frowned slightly as she remembered that a year ago, she wouldn’t have had to sneak.

One of the perks about moving up to the ranks of Goddess Pilot and Goddess Repairer had been that Leena and Garu hadn’t needed to creep around like a couple of cat burglars in the night. While harmony between Candidate and Repairer had been stressed on GOA, any sort of physical relationship had been totally frowned upon – it was a military school, after all. However, the Pilots and their Repairers got to be free of all of those rules once they’d been chosen for the Ingrids.

Well, they had.

Out of nowhere, the Top had suddenly decided to put the same restrictions on the Pilots that had been put on the Candidates – and it wasn’t just in the relationship department, either. Curfews, eating restrictions (which had nearly driven Rioroute crazy), and other strange and odd rules had been laid down, making everyone feel as if they’d just been demoted back to Candidate. No one was happy about, not even Teela – in fact, she’d been downright furious – but what could they do? It wasn’t like they could just quit…and none of them were that desperate, anyway.

Even if it did mean endless sneaking around once again.

Leena turned down the hallway that led to the female dormitory on GIS and paused. The Ingrid hanger entrance was in this hallway, and Leena could’ve sworn that she’d locked everything down when she’d finished her work on Eeva-Leena, and that she’d been the last person in the hanger. So she was extremely surprised to find that the hanger door was open, and there was light coming from inside.

Was someone else breaking curfew?

Creeping forward, Leena stepped up to the door and peered down. She didn’t step onto the elevator that would take her down because the noise would startle whoever it was. So she paused just outside the door, where she could still see.

Tune?

The Repairer of Reneighd-Klein was standing in front of the Green Ingrid, doing absolutely nothing but looking at it. Leena stepped onto the elevator to get a closer look, and her eyes widened when she noticed the slight, very slight but still clearly there glow emanating from the other girl. In her attempt to look even closer, Leena’s hand accidentally tripped the DOWN switch on the elevator, and she grimaced as the elevator began its descent, certain that Tune would now know she was there.

But no.

Tune didn’t move. She didn’t react at all. She just stood there, staring at the Ingrid in the same manner.

When the elevator stopped, Leena walked off of it and over to Tune. “Tune?” she called quietly from a few feet away. “Tune?”

No response. And now that she was closer, she could see that Tune’s lips were moving slightly, and that her eyes were closed. Leena stepped in front of her and waved her hand in front of Tune’s face. “Tune? Tune!”

Still no response. Leena leaned forward to try to make out what Tune was saying, but it was so quiet she could only catch one word.

“Soon,” Tune whispered.

“Soon what?” Leena asked.

Tune’s eyes shot open. “Huh – wha-ahhhhh!” Gasping and screaming at the same time, Tune stumbled backwards, her hand flying up to her chest in surprise. “L-leena! What are you doing, sneaking up on me like that?”

“I called your name about a dozen times,” Leena said with concern. “You seemed like you were in a trance or something. Is something wrong, Tune? What are you doing here?”

Tune looked around the hanger as if she were seeing it for the first time, then looked down at herself. It was then that Leena realized Tune was still wearing her sleeping clothes. The rules stated that you weren’t allowed in the Ingrid hanger without your uniform – another strange rule that the Top had implemented.

“What are you doing here?” Leena repeated.

Tune shook her head uncertainly. “I’m not sure. I – I was in my room, I thought.” She looked around her. “I guess not, right?”

Leena looked at her friend in concern. Since Ernest’s death a year ago, Tune had become more and more withdrawn, even around her new partner – although Leena could understand that. The resemblance between Erts and Ernest was uncanny. The only real difference was their length in hair, as far as she could see. And their attitudes. Ernest had restrained himself from any physical contact, while Erts was a bit more open in that aspect. But still, Erts’ sudden appearance on the scene had not helped Tune with the mourning process anymore than it had helped Gareas. Although Garu had hidden that by becoming Erts’ surrogate big brother, just as Erts’ had filled the hole in Garu’s life that Ernest had left. Those two had needed each other, and been there for each other – but Tune hadn’t been that fortunate.

Leena shook herself out of her analysis when she realized that Tune was talking again. “What?” she asked.

Tune looked slightly embarrassed. “Gomen ne. I didn’t mean to speak when you were thinking of something else.”

“Tune, don’t worry about it,” Leena assured her. “What is it?”

“Just…did you hear a voice, just now?” Tune was looking around the hanger, at the Ingrids, at the Repairer stations, and anything but Leena.

“…No,” Leena said cautiously.

“I thought I heard a voice,” the Reneighd-Klein Repairer murmured, pointing “Coming from over there. I guess…I guess I was wrong.”

Leena put an arm around Tune’s shoulders and began leading her to the elevator. “Come on, Tune,” she said gently. “Let’s get you back to sleep, okay?” And she led the other Repairer out of the hanger. I won’t leave her alone tonight, she thought. I don’t think that would be a good idea.

If either of them had stopped to glance back, they would’ve been in for a sight. As it was, the silent figure standing in the shadows near Reneighd-Klein stopped glowing after a few minutes, and disappeared as silently as it had appeared.

And it had thought as it did so.

Soon.