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Crossed Paths

By Starling

 

"Arys, this way." Jace Walker looked down at his sister, noticing that her attention was on the shuttles parked in the spaceport. He put a hand on her arm. "Arys."

 

The dark-haired girl finally turned to look at him, a distant look in her gray eyes. Jace knew that the look was permanent. When she looked at the world around her, she saw whatever the implant in her mind told her she was seeing. As a result, she never looked directly at the person she was speaking to. Her expression was blank, coldly blank. Jace shivered. The girl was only fourteen years old, yet she had the mental capacity of an adult.

 

"What are we doing here, Jace?" she asked, her voice just as expressionless as her face.

 

"We’re going to test something."

 

"What are we going to test?" The question was asked without inflection.

 

"Mobile suits."

 

At the mention of the machines, Arys immediately perked up. But when she spoke, her voice still sounded dead. "What kind?"

"Leos."

 

Arys nodded. "I see."

Jace led his sister to a taxi. "We’ll work with them tonight." He opened the door for her, and Arys slipped into the backseat. Jace walked around to the passenger side and slid into the car. He turned to the driver to see that the man was staring at his sister in the rearview mirror.

 

"Is she okay?"

 

Jace looked over his shoulder to see that his sister was staring fixedly at the windshield. Her thin mouth was set in a grim line and her hands were clasped in her lap. He forced a smile for the driver.

 

"She’s fine. She’s probably just tired from the trip."

 

"Whatever you say." The driver looked at Jace. "Where to?"

 

"Starling Hotel."

 

"Ritzy place."

 

Jace sighed. This man was too intuitive. "Just drive, mister."

 

"Sure." The taxi driver leaned forward to flick on the radio to a popular station.

 

Jace leaned back in his seat. He could hear Arys murmuring to herself in the backseat. He knew that she was probably going over the specs of the mobile suits in her mind. He hoped she would not suffer withdrawal from her Gundam. They had left it back on Earth. He had never seen a person get so attached to a machine.

"Jace," Arys whispered. "Do these Leos have the Zero System installed?"

 

Jace glanced at the driver to see if he had heard, but the man was bobbing his head to the music as he drove.

 

"Arys, quiet. I’ll tell you everything you need later."

 

Arys leaned back in her seat. Jace looked back at her and saw that she had retreated into her mind again. Sometimes he wondered why he never got up enough courage to get his sister back. He ought to be upset with OZ for doing this to her, but his excuse to himself was that this was for the safety of the entire Earth Sphere. His parents had thought she was dead. He studied her blank gray eyes sadly. In a way, she was.

 

Heero Yuy looked at the mobile suit factory through the fence surrounding it. Behind him stretched a field of green grass. He could hear the shouts of happy children running through the playground nearby. But his eyes were on the guards standing around outside the main cargo bay door. It was almost time for a shift change. He glanced at his watch, waiting for the second hand to finish its rotation. As soon as it hit the twelve, the guards began stirring restlessly. Heero looked up and watched as the guards looked at each other and nodded their heads. They walked inside. Heero smiled. He had been standing at the fence for the past thirty minutes, pretending to be fascinated by the huge mobile suits towering above him in the courtyard of the factory. He had already been here once before though, two hours ago. And now, Heero knew when their shift changes were. He still needed more information, but he could wait until tomorrow to gather the rest of it.

 

Five minutes later, the next shift of soldiers walked outside, rifles held at their sides. Heero turned away from the fence. He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked away, head bowed. He headed toward the playground, planning to stand there and watch the children at play. He sat on a bench and scanned the area around him, taking in the position of every tree, every trash can, every play area. His gaze focused on a tiny figure near the trees. He leaned forward, trying to see better. It was a girl. His curiosity got the better of him and he stood up. He walked past a mother standing near the sand boundary of the playground.

 

As he got closer, he could see that the girl was sitting on the grass, her eyes on the ground. Then, he saw her hands. They were moving lightning-fast.

 

 

"Hmm…" Heero said.

He stopped a few feet and watched the girl. He could tell what she had in her hands now. She was playing a game with a pack of cards. But she was playing the game like no one he had ever seen. Then, it hit him. She played like a robot. Her gaze would sweep over the seven columns in front of her and then she would slap a card down in one smooth motion. In a few seconds, she had finished her game. She gathered the cards up and shuffled them one-handed. With a flick of her wrist, she began dealing out the cards with blurring speed.

 

Heero moved closer. The girl stopped and looked up, and Heero was startled at the flash of steel he saw in them. She did not smile; her hand froze in mid-air.

 

"Do you know how to play?" The girl asked, lowering her hand. Heero stepped nearer and crouched down, looking at the cards thoughtfully. Then, he looked up into the girl’s eyes. That was when he noticed that they seemed to stare past him.

 

Heero shook his head.

 

"I can teach you." The girl gathered up the cards again. She dealt them out and Heero looked down at the pile in front of him, confused. He had never played cards. "Have you ever heard of war?"

 

"War?" Heero echoed, still confused.

 

"I’ve played war all my life." The girl held up one card and looked at it, her gaze still slightly off. "Take a card off the top of your deck and put it down."

 

Heero did, his eyes still on the girl’s face. She was so… cold. Like him.

 

"My card beats yours." The girl slapped her card on top of his. It was a jack of hearts; his was a ten of spades. "A jack is higher than a ten. I get your card." She swept them up into her palm and shuffled them into the bottom of her deck.

 

They continued to play like that. Heero beat her a few times, but eventually, the girl held all the cards. She took a rubber band and slipped it around the deck. "I won because I got all the cards." She handed the deck to Heero, who took it uncertainly. "Would you like to keep them? You can practice."

Heero looked down at the deck and quickly pocketed it. The girl looked up into his eyes, and Heero saw that this time her gaze was true.

 

"Thank you for playing with me. Not even Jace will when I ask him."

 

"You’re welcome," Heero stammered. He could not believe he was doing this. He had been sitting here playing cards with a mysterious girl the whole afternoon when he should have been back in his hotel room writing a report for Dr. J.

 

The girl’s head tilted slightly. "What is your name?"

 

"Heero Yuy."

 

The girl’s grim mouth pulled into a slight smile. It looked awkward on her face. "Really?" She stood to her feet. Heero followed. "My name is Arys Walker. I’m visiting the colony with my brother."

 

Heero stuck his hand in his pocket and fingered the deck of cards.

 

"Will you be here tomorrow?" The girl asked, touching something behind her ear.

 

Heero looked at the mobile suit factory and then back at the girl. Her hand still hovered behind her ear and he realized that the girl had an implant. He nodded.

 

"Bring the cards. I’ll teach you how to play solitaire."

 

Heero nodded again.

 

"I’ll meet you here," Arys said.

 

Heero watched Arys walk away, toward the mobile suit factory. Was she staying at the factory? And why was she here with her brother? And the biggest question of all: why did she have the implant behind her ear?

 

_______________

Jace talked to one of the guards in the mobile suit factory control room. There had been an alert of a possible intruder, but the intruder had never been caught. They were going to have to strengthen security to make sure that the enemy did not return. He felt a tug on his arm. Jace looked down to see Arys staring at him curiously.

 

"Jace, I met a boy today."

 

He let the guard go with a harsh reprimand and turned to Arys. He noticed that her gray eyes seemed clearer than usual. Normally, her eyes were a hard steel color, and she looked as if she were blind. But not at the moment. Again, Jace was struck by a pang of regret that his sister would never grow up like a normal child. She knew too much, had seen too much, had killed too many people, including their own parents.

 

"Arys, you know you’re not supposed to talk to strangers."

 

"He was very nice. You would have liked him. He played cards with me." Arys glared at him accusingly.

 

The glare was unusual. All emotion was supposed to have been trained out of her, but apparently, not all had. Jace groaned inwardly. She was going to have to go through another memory revamp when they got back to Earth.

"Okay, Arys. You know you’re not supposed to feel anger. Remember?"

 

Arys still glared at him, but she defended herself with a lifted chin. "I’m not angry."

 

"You are. I can see it in your eyes."

 

She stared past him without replying, and Jace realized that he had lost her to her inner world. Just as well. It was where she was supposed to stay. He was about to lead Arys over to her quarters, when she suddenly pulled her hand away.

 

"I want to see Silverwind."

 

"You can’t. Silverwind is back on Earth. Come with me, Arys. You need sleep"

 

Arys sighed. "Silverwind’s back on Earth? Well, can’t I at least help them? That’s what we came here to do, isn’t it?" She nodded toward the techs busily working at the controls.

 

Jace was glad that his sister had gotten her senses back. He hated these lapses back into childhood. He wasn’t sure how to handle them. "Yes, you’re right. You can help the techs. Let me take you to a Leo."

 

Arys willingly went with him this time.

 

A soldier of the future, Jace thought to himself. Arys is one of the soldiers of the future, and I’m helping to train her. That is what Zechs would have told me.

 
The next day Heero stood at the fence again, recording every movement within and without the factory in his mind. He had broken in yesterday before meeting the girl and set up a few bugs in strategic places. Apparently, his break-in had been realized because the security was tighter today. He would have to be careful when he completed hismission that night. Heero pulled off his earpiece and tucked it into his pocket. He glanced at his watch. It was time for his meeting with Arys. He had not stopped thinking about the girl since meeting her yesterday. He had so many questions for her. Many of them she probably would not answer.

 

Heero walked toward the trees again and saw that Arys was again sitting on the grass. This time she was drawing. He came up beside her and watched her for a few moments.

 

"Hello," she said without looking up. "You’re thirty seconds late."

 

Heero wanted to laugh, but he allowed himself a small smile and sat down next to her, watching her hands move across the paper. In a few minutes, one of the Leos standing near the factory formed on the paper.

 

"Who are you?" He asked.

 

Arys held up her finished sketch and frowned at it. "I already told you my name. It’s Arys Walker."

 

"Why do you work for OZ?"

 

Arys laughed. "I don’t work for OZ. OZ is my enemy."

 

Heero stared at her, wondering if the girl was teasing or just insane. "But…you and your brother are staying in the mobile suit factory."

 

"It’s not an OZ factory, Heero. It’s an Alliance-run one."

 

Then, Heero realized what the implant was. It was a control. OZ controlled her by confusing her, by telling her lies, and using her for their own purposes. It was cruel. He reached a hand out to her face.

 

Arys jerked away from his hand, grabbing it in mid-air.

 

"What are you doing?" Arys asked, her eyes flashing angrily.

 

The two stared each other down. Blue into gray.

 

Heero did not reply. With a quick movement, he broke free of her grasp and reached for her implant. Arys was so shocked at his touch that she let him run his fingers over the implant. Finally, he found what he was looking for and touched a small button. He listened as the implant powered down and the blinking lights flickered off. He lowered his hand.

 

"Let me show you something, Arys." He took her hand and led her to the fence, hiding by a tree where they would not be easily noticed. He pointed to the guards. "Do you see those uniforms?"

 

Arys stared. "Those are OZ uniforms!"

 

Heero placed a finger over her lips. "Shh." He tugged on her hand again. "Let’s go."

 

She followed him, still staring over her shoulder. "I don’t believe it. I’ve been lied to. My own brother…"

 

"He was following orders, Arys."

 

"Still…"

 

"Listen to me, Arys." Heero took her to their meeting place. "I am going to blow up that factory tonight. You cannot be in there when I do. Get your brother to take you out of the factory before midnight."

 

"Why are you telling me this?"

 

It was Heero’s turn to stare. He had known this girl for only 24 hours, yet there was something about her that tugged at his heart. Was it her eyes? They had been cold and dead only the day before, but now, they danced with emotions that had been suppressed by the implant. For a moment, he wondered what he looked like to her. Probably a murdering monster. Heero looked down at the ground, shaking his head.

 

"I don’t know why I’m telling you." He looked up at her to see concern in her gray eyes. "I…don’t want you to die."

 

"Arys! Where are you?"

 

Arys frowned. "That’s my brother," she said. "I have to go."

 

Heero grabbed her hand again before she could turn away. "Keep the implant off."

 

Arys nodded. "I’ll try." With that, the dark-haired girl ran off to meet a tall man with blond hair standing near the gate into the factory. She said a few words to him. The man nodded in apparent agreement.

 

Heero saw Arys glance back at him and nod slightly before following her brother through the gate. She would be safe. He knew it in his heart.

 

A few minutes later, Heero lay on the grass, breathing heavily. He stared up at the sky and smiled slightly. It had been a while since he had let himself go like that. There wasn’t enough room where he lived to do cartwheels and somersaults. A shadow suddenly loomed over him; it was a girl. He could not see her face because of the light shining behind her. For a moment he wondered if Arys had come back. Then, he realized that it was actually a young girl around seven or eight years old.

 

"Are you lost?" The little girl asked, smiling. A puppy tugged on the end of a leash she was holding.

 

Heero sat up, turning his head to look at the girl. She handed him a flower and the little dog barked at him happily. Heero took the flower and reached out a hand to the dog. It licked his hand, nuzzling his palm with its nose.

 

"Marie, I think this little boy is lost."

 

The puppy barked again.

 

Heero let the dog go and it ran to the end of its leash, running around in circles. "I’ve been lost since the day I was born."

 

The little girl laughed. "People usually are until they find what they’re looking for."

 

Marie tugged harder at the leash, and the little girl stumbled away. She waved at Heero in farewell.

 

Heero looked down at the flower she had given him. It was yellow. And Heero recalled that the girl had had blond hair and blue eyes. Arys had dark hair and gray eyes. He had been visited by two angels today. One blond, one dark. Pushing away thoughts of the two girls, Heero stood to his feet. He had work to do.

 

Later that night, Heero watched in horror as the collapsing mobile suit factory tumbled into a nearby apartment building. He threw down the detonator he was holding and ran toward the apartments. That was where the little girl and her dog lived. He had seen her walk into the building while he headed back to his hotel room farther down the street.

 

"Oh no," he whispered, feeling agony squeeze his heart. What had he done wrong? In his mind, he went through every place where he had set the charges and realized that he had miscalculated somewhere in the manufacturing area of the factory. The blast must have knocked one wall too far forward, causing the building to collapse toward the apartments across the street.

 

He stopped in his tracks and knew that it was too late. He stood, seeing the little girl dying in his mind, watching the apartment building disappear into a pile of wreckage before his eyes. He clenched his left hand into a fist. He could feel his entire body shaking. What was he feeling? Anger? Despair? Both?

 

He stiffened in place, trying to fight off the feelings assailing him. He waited for the flames in both buildings to die down, watching the red-orange dance among the debris. He would wait until it was safe to walk through the remains of the apartments, and he would find out what had happened to the little girl.

 

Arys trudged through the bricks and mortar littering the ground. She had seen him walk into the demolished building, but somehow he had disappeared. She had crept out of the hotel room Jace had taken her to. He had been sleeping soundly when she had left. She glanced around at the last fires scattered around. Snowflakes, a result of the malfunctioning climate control system, drifted into the flames, sizzling to vapor. She was tempted to call out for Heero, but she was afraid. She stepped around an outcropping of plaster still clinging to the ground and saw him, standing in the midst of a destroyed bedroom. He was staring down at something.

 

"Heero?" Arys came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder.

 

"What are you doing here, Arys?" Heero asked without turning around. Arys could hear the heartbroken tone of his voice, and she felt something inside her break as well. "You shouldn’t be seeing this."

 

"I’ve seen this many times, Heero. You don’t know what I am."

 

Heero stooped down and picked up a puppy. Just by looking at it, Arys could tell that it was dead. Heero cradled it in his arms. He looked over at a splinter of wall plaster sticking up from the ground. Arys followed his gaze and saw a piece of cloth hanging from the end of the splinter. He took the cloth.

 

"I killed her." Heero finally turned around and looked at her. Arys had to step back at the pain she saw in his eyes.

 

"Who?"

 

"The little girl."

 

Heero turned and walked away from the area, Arys following silently. Somehow she knew where he was going. He was going to their spot. As soon as they reached the trees, Arys bent down and picked up a large stick. Heero glanced back at her and nodded. He set the dog down on the ground, covered it gently with the piece of cloth, and grabbed a stick also. Together, they dug a grave. Soon, a small mound of dirt interrupted the grassy stretch of land. Heero took Arys’ hand and led her away silently. Arys glanced back over her shoulder. Two sticks were stuck into the head of the grave; a piece of cloth hanging from the sticks flapped in a gentle breeze.

 

  Jace looked down at his sister’s once-again blank face. She had had so much life during those few days at the mobile suit factory. He almost wished that they had not had to revamp her memory. They had left the colony and come back to Earth yesterday. Jace had seen his sister run to a dark-haired boy standing near the spaceport entryway before she had gone with him to the transport. She had thrown her arms around him, giving him a hug. The two had exchanged a few words and then separated reluctantly. He had brushed a hand across her cheek, sweeping back a few strands of black hair, before whispering something and walking away. Arys had watched him leave, holding a hand to her cheek. Then, she had come to Jace, her eyes distant, but this time it was not that distant look Jace was used to seeing.

 

Jace took his sister’s arm to help her out of the chair. She glanced at him, her eyes once again blank, cold, empty. As a result of the memory revamp, she had no remembrance of what had happened on the colony. And she had no remembrance of the boy.

 

"Hi, Jace." And once again, her voice was without inflection.

 

"How do you feel?" he asked.

 

"Fine." Her reply was short and to the point. She finally looked up at him. And for a moment, her eyes focused on his.

 

"You have blue eyes," she stated flatly.

 

"I’ve always had blue eyes, Arys." Jace wondered why she suddenly found such an interest in the color of his eyes.

"I…I like blue eyes." Her voice was hesitant, and Jace saw his sister for a few seconds. Then, he lost her again, and she disappeared into her inner world.

 

"For the soldiers of the future," Jace whispered to himself as he led his sister away from the laboratory.

 

Heero sat at his computer. He had been reprimanded by the head of Operation Meteor himself. And his words had stung. He stared at the computer screen blankly. Dr. J. had tried to soften the blow, but his mentor’s words had not helped. He had gone through extensive retraining the past few days, and he was tired, so tired. He rubbed his eyes and forced himself to type. He finished his report, still seeing that little girl’s face in his mind. He would never forget her, or her puppy. Not even retraining could take that guilt away from him. He felt like it had taken something from him, but he wasn’t sure what. He reached for his coat, knowing that there would be a computer disk in the left pocket. He reached in and pulled it out, but he felt something else that was in there with the disk. He pulled that out as well.

 

He stared down at a deck of cards. Where had he gotten them? He looked at the computer disk. It was gray. Gray eyes. Why was he thinking of gray eyes? He popped the computer disk into the computer’s drive and saved his report. While the drive whirred, Heero puzzled over the deck of cards. They were mangled and sticky. They were of no use to him. The computer beeped at him, and Heero tossed the cards into a nearby metal trash can. He barely heard the clank as they hit the bottom. He hit the button to release the disk from the drive and took out the disk. He grabbed his coat and slipped the disk into the pocket. Then, he walked out of the room, shutting the door closed behind him.