Voice: a Macross 7 fanfic
By yutamiyu


DISCLAIMER: All together, now! THEY DON'T BELONG TO MEEEE.



Basara loses his voice...



"What the hell!?" I hear Gamlin Kanzaki's voice boom over the communication channel in my Valkyrie. I find myself wondering the same thing. The rapidly approaching creature in front of us is massive; much bigger than the Protodeviln I had encountered before.

Gigil. Sivil. They were small and easy to confront. The lurching beast attacking our fleet would be a harder force to reckon with.

"How awful..." Mylene's wavering voice says softly over the same channel, and I find myself wishing that I could call to her and comfort her and tell her that everything would be okay, that she would not perish in the battle I somehow knew was to come.

Find myself wishing I could call.

I hold a guilty secret: I have lost my voice. Geppelnitch called out "Spiritia Dreaming!" and I felt a constricting knot in my throat that would not disperse, and I have been unable to tell anyone.

Ray figured it out right away, and put a supportive hand on my shoulder. "Looks like it's time to start counting on Mylene, huh?" was all he asked, leaving me alone with my guitar and my dead vocal chords. Truly, a fate worse than death. A million songs to sing, and no means by which to sing them. A million messages to convey, a million attentive listeners, and I find myself unable to speak.

I click my Valkyrie control and am surprised to find two halves of a sort of jacket latch around me. Dr. Chiba's chubby face appears on the monitor in front of me. "The Sound Energy system has been mounted," he informs me, with pride. As though I hadn't figured out that something was different in my Valkyrie. "Basara, sing for us!"

I have hit the moment that I have feared: I could no longer run. I would have to reveal the truth. 

Ray's image appears to my left. "Basara," he says solemnly, "how's your voice?"

My eyes dart from the doctor to my bandmate, and my face shows worry. Ray nods, and I see him turn his head to elsewhere on his control panel. "Mylene, continue with the concert."

Mylene marks the final picture in the collage of faces on my dash. "What about Basara?" she asks, her voice calling from the right of me.

"He's lost his voice," Ray informs her, and I squeeze my eyes shut and clench my jaw as I hear the distressed gasps from the other two.

"So that's why..." I hear Mylene say softly, before her voice gains more power. "Why didn't you just say so?" she demands, exasperated, changing her Valkyrie into cruising mode before heading off towards the horizon, singing my Planet Dance; the sole member of Sound Force, it seemed.

"No more wastin' time..." her voice sings, and I turn off my communication with Ray and Dr. Chiba and focus on her. There is a trace of worry in her determined eyes. "It's like we're in a dream." I watch in awe as her Sound Energy jacket begins to sparkle and shine, and watch her look at it in amazement. She has not quite gotten used to the sensation, I assume, and feel a sliver of a smile flirt with my lips.

"Hurry up and move before everything fades away..." she sings, and she has reached the monster.

Mylene...be careful.

"Protect Sound Force!" I hear screamed on my radio; it is Gamlin and several members of Emerald and Diamond Force. I allow myself to breathe out a sigh of relief; at least she is not alone in her fight. Gamlin is a good pilot; he would protect her.

"Hey everybody! Aim at the light!" Mylene continues her song, and I listen to her, watching the battle in front of me. I notice a tentacle rise and open, a large red orb focusing on Mylene. I sit up in my Valkyrie and watch it intently: if something is going to hurt Mylene, I am going to be right there to protect her.

"No good!" Chiba calls from the control tower, and I am glad I have no voice. I would have screamed and sworn and yelled at him until my voice had grown hoarse from it. And it takes an awful lot to strain my voice. "That's not enough power!"

Mylene can do it. I know she can.

"Let's dance," Mylene continues, her voice unchanging. Chiba is right; there's something missing from her song. I can't put my finger on it, but I can notice that something significant is lacking. "Dancing in the planet..."

The monster unfurled its massive hand and snatched Mylene and her Valkyrie out of the air, as though she were simply a leaf on the wind. I find myself wanting to cry in frustration; I open my mouth but only my breath comes out. I close my mouth quickly and throw myself into my Valkyrie controls, launching towards the distant battle.

I hear Gamlin's enraged screams as he calls her name, and I realize that he has begun to fire at the monster. His screams of rage soon turned into ones of frustration as he realizes that his weapons had no effect. I will my Valkyrie to go faster; somehow certain that I can make it fly faster than its peak speed.

I hear Mylene's terrified scream, something I had never, ever wanted to hear. It will haunt my dreams. Every time I close my eyes I fear I will see the same scene before me, with me powerless to stop it. I watch in horror as the monster opens its mouth, bearing its gigantic, sharp teeth, and moving Mylene towards it.

I reach Mylene just in time to put myself in the distance between her Valkyrie and the Protodeviln's mouth. I grasp two teeth with both of my arms, and push against its clasped fist with the feet of my Valkyrie. I have to get Mylene out of this. And so I did the only thing I could think of.

I turned on the fire boosters, and shot myself into the enemy's mouth. The boosters burned the Protodeviln's hand enough to cause it to bring Mylene farther away from it. I have given Gamlin and the rest of the military a chance to rescue her.

Do I simply leave myself to die at the hands of the Protodeviln?

I grasp the same teeth and push up, gritting my teeth at the tremendous labor. I finally am able to open it enough to expose my Valkyrie to the outside.

"BASARA!" Mylene screams, worried.

Sing, Mylene.

Sing.

I open my mouth and will my voice to come out, and am not surprised when it doesn't. Why am I tortured as I am? You do not rob a scion of its heritage; why do you rob a singer of his essence?

Of both parts of his essence...

I lost my voice. I am about to lose Mylene.

Mylene...sing.

I do not know how much time passes. All I knew was Mylene's sweet voice, beginning to sing another of our songs.

"The city pounds with life twenty-four hours a day..." she begins to sing. "Tonight tonight! I'm charging on through." My clamped eyes fly open to stare at her in my monitor. Her eyes reach mine, filled with determination and belief and for the first time since I had lost my voice I truly felt as though the situation could change. Her Sound Energy jacket shimmers bright yellow, and I notice that it is much brighter than her test run several hours ago.

"In the crowd of eyes on the fire escapes I see above...sign of the times!" Mylene's song is cut short as the wailing monster begins to squeeze her Valkyrie, and I watch in horror as it begins to short circuit. It will soon explode.

Mylene...hurry!

Mylene screams, and the area covering the cockpit cracks open, leaving her exposed to the monster. One direct hit and she would not survive the battle. She stands up, the connections to the Valkyrie breaking, and she jumps out of her machine, taking the guitar and Sound Energy jacket with her.

I fail to call out her name; Gamlin succeeds. His fighter transforms part way to make an arm, which extended and grabbed her as she fell through the air. He swerved around to take her out of safety.

Mylene...stay safe.

I close my eyes and resign to my fate.

"...Believe in yourself!" I suddenly hear Mylene's voice singing, and it is stronger than before. I open my eyes to find Gamlin's plane making a sharp turn across the ocean to fly back towards me.

Mylene...why?

"From the darkness I can see the answer...coming out to me..." she sings, and thrusts her body forwards. The light shoots out of the aura surrounding her and makes its way towards me, and all I can do is watch it, transfixed. It enters my Valkyrie and covers my throat, and I can feel a sensational burning coating my vocal chords and lungs.

And all I can feel is Mylene.

I huddle my body together, trembling, attempting to gather whatever Song Energy I may have left, and am pleased to find that I can activate my unit just as Mylene can. A red aura surrounds me, and my triumphant yell leaves my throat the same way, blazing a path into the sky before me.

"There's a love that's worth giving the whole galaxy up for," I sing, and look down at her form before me. The light from her jacket suddenly goes out, and she collapses into the giant palm that she had been standing in.

I turn on my flame boosters once again and force myself out of the Protodeviln's mouth. "MYLENE!" I scream, rushing to be by her side. I swipe her out of Gamlin's custody, and spin around to make our high-speed landing more bearable.

She does not move in my Valkyrie's hands. I do the only thing that comes to mind: I sing to her.

"There's a time that I can't figure out what's right or wrong..."

We land on the ground and I whip around to find that the Protodeviln we have just escaped is preparing an attack. I would have no time to dodge once it was fired.

There is a sudden glitter in my hands, and I bring them apart to find Mylene's yellow aura glowing brightly around her, and she stands up and turns to look at me. Never have I seen such intensity or resolve in her eyes as she sings.

"But when our eyes meet..." we both sing, and I return her gaze. "...Morning seems so far away. I just wanna hold you close tonight!"

We both turn toward the danger at hand. The Protodeviln has almost finished charging its energy; when it fires, it will be impossible to evade.

Mylene whips her head around to stare at me again before turning back to the task at hand, and the flame surrounding her becomes much more intense, and I can feel mine growing as well.

We and I both have the same thought. We will die...together.

"Baby, light that fire!" we sing, and I find the red fire leaving my throat and hitting Mylene's back. It fuses with her body and leaves her throat, creating a shade of orange that shields us from the attack.

"Hurry, believe in yourself!" we continue, as the winds around us become more and more violent. My Valkyrie is pushed back, and I recover and step forwards forcefully. Nothing will defeat me. Not when Mylene and I are in tandem...

I hear the clanging of drums and realize that Veffidas has started to play. Ray pilots their shared Valkyrie up behind us, lending us support. Fire Bomber will either live or perish together. We have always been this way.

"It's lit the fuse to your heart!"

We will not lose...

"Don't let your heart look back again!" Mylene and I sing, and the force between us becomes much stronger. The orange crescent finally breaks through the energy field and strikes the Protodeviln, who shrinks down to a size no bigger than my Valkyrie. Such a monster...in such a form?

Mylene and I continue to sing; aware that the danger has passed, but neither of us really wanting to stop our harmony.

When the enemy fleet retreats, I fly Mylene over to a nearby outlook over the beach and land my Valkyrie. She stops singing, and stands in my Valkyrie's metal hands, staring out at the scenery before her. I jump out of the cockpit and call out to her. "Mylene!" I exclaim, jumping down into the hands. "Your song did it!" I place my hand on the small of her back; a very deliberate move. I am testing boundaries.

She turns her nose up at me in annoyance. "The canary that can't sing is washed out in the ocean," she informs me. Her soft, reassuring eyes that meet mine soon after, coupled with the smiling Guvava on her shoulder told me that she did not really mean what she said; that she was enjoying giving me a hard time for my weakness.

"Yeah, I know," I reply, smiling, drawing her closer into my body. She does not protest. Guvava jumps onto my shoulder and rubs against my neck, and I smile, stroking it with a crooked finger.

Mylene and I simply stand and watch the scenery before us, neither saying any words. This girl with the savior voice...what more would she have to say?

She returned my voice, while returning my soul in one fell swoop.

I am forever indebted.

She has given me my voice...and a reason.


~End~


AUTHOR'S NOTE: I think all of the dialogue (oh, no, wait. MOST of the dialogue) is straight out of the series. Everything else is my own creativity (or lack of? ^_~).