Setsuna blinked in surprise at the multiple ways that the man introduced himself. "Rai Sumeragi... and Rai of Britannia?"
"I have ties to the Britannian Empire and one of the older Japanese clans. It's a complicated story but one I feel would be best explained by my true self when he chooses to emerge from his isolated shell." As this manifestation of Rai spoke, the scenery changed from the laboratory to the interior of a public transit vehicle. There were only a handful of passengers and among them was the disguised Rai who just escaped from Code-R.
"Then what about Geass? Is that something only he could explain as well?"
"Perhaps but I will explain what I can here before you meet the real Rai in this Memory Museum. Maybe if you understood the burden he carries, you can help him."
In the background, the memory continued to play as the disguised man kept checking his surroundings while the bus traveled along its regular route. He knew that it would only be a matter of time before Bartley and his men began their pursuit. And sure enough, he could see a few Britannian military vehicles through the rear window of the bus slowly catching up while they weaved in and out of traffic. "No..."
"Hey, mister. You okay?" asked a little girl seated not too far away from him.
"Don't talk to the strange man, honey!" scolded the mother as she kept a weary eye on the distressed man.
"I don't want to go back..." His face started getting more and more distressed the closer the Britannian military vehicles got to the bus. Soon, sirens started flashing from those vehicles, causing the bus driver at the front to pull the vehicle to the side and wait for the authorities to board. Some of the passengers started to murmur amongst themselves as to what was going on. "God... oh, God..."
"Mister?" That was when the man lost his composure and screamed out loud.
"...... DON'T LET THEM GET ME!!"
And in an instant after the red light bathed the interior of the bus, the passengers along with the bus driver knew what to do. The bus started accelerating at an alarming rate while at the same time, passengers started opening up the emergency exit hatches that were placed on the bus ceilings calmly. "Here, you see one of the dangers of Geass. The loss of control... creates devastating consequences," explained the black clad Rai.
"W-what the...? What's going on?" The disguised Rai could see the military vehicles giving pursuit while the bus drove rapidly, weaving in and out of traffic.
"Don't worry, mister. We won't let the bad guys get you," said that little girl cheerfully before she managed to climb through the emergency escape with the help of her mother. And once she managed to climb to the roof...
"She..." Setsuna stared in horror as that little girl threw herself off the bus, without any hesitation to create chaos for the Britannian military pursuers and the traffic around them. The way that she eagerly went to her death...... it was like seeing the other children from the KPSA all over again.
"No! Stop!!" Back in the memory, the disguised Rai ran to the front of the bus to confront the driver. "Please stop the bus! You don't have to-"
"Ah, pipe down, will ya?!" grumbled the driver. "I've been driving this bus for a decade so I know what I'm doing! Don't worry about a thing, I'll get you outta-"
Something suddenly slammed into the bus from the left side, causing it to topple over and land on its right side. Even though he had gotten hurt, Rai's only thought was escape. He managed to climb out of one of the emergency exit hatches that had been opened earlier by the Geassed passengers, dropping his headgear and the security pass lent to him by William earlier. 'Must... run...'
He ran frantically, without thought, desperate to get away until he found himself on some sort of campus. 'Where am I? Where is this?'
"It was at this point where I was helped by good people. Students at this place called Ashford Academy." The background image suddenly changed to the young man being introduced to the Student Council and the blonde girl declaring that she would allow him to stay on campus while he worked things out and recovered his memory. "But I don't suppose you want to hear about the life of a high schooler when I know that you wish to discuss something else."
Setsuna took a moment to get himself together before glancing at the image of Rai. "Tell me about Geass."
"To begin, I'll have to tell you about her and what she told me." And once again the background image shifted to a public park where a girl with long green hair and golden eyes was sitting on a bench scarfing down pizza. Upon noticing the presence of someone else, she forced the current slice into her mouth.
"...... I'm not giving you any."
"......" Never had the Gundam Meister been so puzzled in his life.
Elsewhere, a young man awoke to the sound of explosions and gunfire. As he opened his eyes, he found himself in the middle of a warground with ruined buildings all over the place. 'What the...?! Where am I? I thought I put myself to sleep on Kamine Island!!'
As he tried to figure things out, he heard an older male voice speak as if his very presence was everywhere. "This battle is a crusade being offered to God."
'What...?' He heard machine gun fire and forced himself to duck underneath one of the ruined walls. As he glanced up to find out where it was firing from, he gasped as soon as he saw several Knightmare Frames that were just plain huge. They were giants compared to the regular Knightmare Frames he was familiar with. And they seemed to be tearing apart the area with ease.
"According to the Divine Canon, the unbelievers who ignore our traditions and defile the land of God... we shall pass judgment upon them."
And the scenery changed again to a public area, full of people. As they went about on their business, nobody noticed a child making his way to the centre of the area... and detonating the bomb he had carried under his jacket.
"We must not submit to the infidels."
"What... is this?! What is this?!" He shouted out to the skies but received no answer as the scenery shifted back to the battleground. Before he could do anything else, he saw two children running with rifles. "Hey, wait! Tell me what's going-"
But the minute he got in their way, they simply passed through him as if he were a ghost. He quickly turned his head to see where they were going and saw them open fire on one of those giant Knightmare Frames. Unfortunately, all it did was draw the huge robot's attention and it returned fire, easily killing the two boys.
"By dying in battle, we shall be guided to God."
The scenery shifted again. This time, he saw a tired young boy of Middle Eastern origin with messy dark hair and weary brown eyes leaning against the leftover wall of another destroyed building. He was trying to catch his breath and held on to his rifle as if his life depended on it. "Hey... are you okay?" The young man kneeled down in front of the boy but the only response the boy gave was...
"In this world, God doesn't exist."
"Huh?" He had no time to figure things out as the top chunk of the wall exploded with machine gun fire and exposed the two of them to the giant Knightmare Frame. "Shit, we gotta get outta here!" He tried reaching for the boy but his hand passed through the shoulder.
And that was when a miracle occurred. Before the giant Knightmare Frame could attack, it was destroyed by a powerful blast from above. Several more of these blasts were fired as well, destroying the other Knightmare Frames and causing the endless noise of gunfire to dissolve into silence. 'It came from... above?' The young man looked up and gasped to see radiant particles of light coming from the back of another Knightmare Frame. The design was far more elequent and refined compared to the other Frames that had been attacking earlier.
He glanced at the boy who looked at the machine above with pure awe in his eyes. No, that wasn't strong enough. It was pure and utter worship and admiration. In that moment the young man understood.
"That image...that almost divine first encounter... it's no wonder that this boy who rejected God found worship with this saviour."
"It was the first encounter with Gundam." He turned around to see another young man bathed in a faint blue aura with a white shirt, red scarf and dark pants. What struck him as odd was that he seemed to be an older version of the boy beside him.
"You're..."
"Who are you?" asked the image in a neutral tone.
He paused for a moment before introducing himself. "My name is Rai. As for how I'm here... I really have no idea. What is this?"
"A memory of my childhood." The scenery dissolved once again and Rai found himself in what seemed to be a gallery with pictures consisting of nothing but Knightmare Frames that looked similar to the one called Gundam.
"Why am I here?"
"It's because there is a distortion in your heart. However... if you allow it, Gundam can cut it away."
"......"
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(Posted Sun, 03 Jan 2010 06:01)
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