"Of course I want to know! Please tell me!" pleaded the Rai in the memory.
C.C. paused for a moment before turning back to face him. "Since you asked so nicely, I'll tell you. The Geass that you have..." She started to approach the young man and as soon as she got close to him and brushed his skin with her finger, he held his head with one of his hands and fell to the ground on his knees, trying to shake off the vertigo.
"W-what?"
And in a moment, she understood. "...... so that's how it is. You don't use sight as a medium. Rather, your Geass is based on sound. Interesting." It was one more thing that Setsuna noted down about Geass before his companion spoke.
"It was all she told me before inviting me for a meeting in the park the following day." The scenery changed once again to the park where C.C. finished stuffing herself with pizza and declared how she refused to share any of her food.
The Rai living inside this memory merely rolled his eyes. "I'm not hungry. And I don't really like pizza that much."
"You don't like pizza? Weirdo..." Her posture changed, indicating her disapproval, before she patted the empty seat next to her on the bench, prompting the male to sit down next to her. "Let's continue where we left off from yesterday."
"Should we be talking about this stuff in public?"
C.C. waved off his concern. "You don’t have to worry about that. Even if people overhear us and believe what we're talking about, it's not like they can go shout it out to the world. For starters, it would make them look like a crazy lunatic."
"Uh... huh..." Well, if she's not worried...
"Now, I will say this first. You live in a different existence, where different rules apply to you because of your power. It's not something that can be understood from words alone so look into my eyes." She leaned forward to grasp the young man's arm...... and caused the entire background to rapidly shift between images.
Setsuna grew alarmed at all this imagery that flew past him. "What is this...?!" The image of other worlds and galaxies, white feathers flying everywhere, the countless number of humans dressed in ceremonial robes with distinct markings on their bodies and that bird-shaped symbol on their forehead... it all finally settled on a black and white picture with the sun placed in between between two halves of a mechanical world.
"This is your 'world'," replied the echoing voice of C.C. "You possess the power to rule over others. That is the power of kings. There is almost no one who can defy it."
"And you're the exception?" asked Rai softly as his astral body floated between the two worlds.
"That's how it is. It is because I am the one who can create contracts." Just as she finished stating that, the background turned to black, leaving only Setsuna and the Rai who acted as his guide through the Memory Museum.
"I originally thought she was the one who contracted with me but she said that it was someone completely different. As the memory of that had been lost, I cannot clearly recall who created a contract with me but C.C. said that whoever granted me Geass must have a wish that I can only grant to them."
"The ones that are spreading the distortion in this world... are those like C.C.?"
The image of Rai shrugged. "It's hard to say how many people are out there that can create a contract. There may be hundreds or thousands out there granting Geass to each possible candidate they find who might be able to fulfill their desire."
That thought wasn't exactly a comforting one as Setsuna realized that there could be many sources out there fueling the distortion of the world with Geass. '...... have we entered a losing battle? How can Gundam fight Geass... if Geass is spread out so thinly across this world?' This wasn't like fighting A-LAWS or the Innovators. Celestial Being would have to practically hunt for specific needles in this haystack while continuing interventions against the Britannian Empire.
"The rest of my days were spent in Ashford Academy, trying to find answers to my existence and to find out more about whoever made the contract with me. Once I eventually found out where I came from, a choice lay in front of me. Do I live as a Britannian? Or do I live as a Japanese man?" Rai let out a bitter chuckle. "In the end, I took the easy way out. Rather than choose one or the other, I put myself back to my deep sleep in Kamine Island and used one final Geass to erase everybody's memory about me. Except for C.C. of course. And there you have my story in a nutshell."
Before Setsuna could gather his thoughts, the background shifted to a gallery of endless pictures. Some of them were images that had been played before. There were pictures of Knightmare Frames scattered throughout along with pictures of unfamiliar people... except for one image in which it showed Rai and some other red-haired girl dressed in a black uniform standing guard near Zero. The Gundam Meister turned to his guide for an explanation only to find a look of surprise on his face.
"What happened here?"
'Gundam...' Charles zi Britannia had been replaying the video footage of the Black Knight's saviour for the past hour while reviewing Guilford's report before he departed to the Sword of Akasha. 'Are you the one chosen as God's champion? To oppose the dream of reuniting all humans and creating a conflict-free world?'
The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. No single mind could create that Knightmare Frame. No, the only entity capable of building such a machine would have to be the collective human unconsciousness. They had somehow gained awareness of the plan and sent Gundam to stop him and his brother. V.V. was already putting contingency plans into motion to build weapons that could stand up to Gundam but even with the project taking the highest priority, those weapons would not be ready for weeks, if not months.
When he stepped foot on that familiar platform, he took a moment to soak in the scenery and calm his mind. The endless clouds, the sun in the background that illuminated the structure, the bluish green particles of light...... wait a second.
Charles turned to where he saw that light and sure enough, it was the exact same light he saw in the video footage. The light of Gundam. 'Has Gundam reached the Sword? No... if it did, the Sword would have been destroyed by now.' The particles had been dispersed everywhere. It didn't restrict itself to the Sword but it even caressed Heaven's Door and found itself to the World of C. If those particles were here, that meant Gundam was interfacing with one of the Thought Elevators.
Two minutes later, a large fleet of Knightmare Frames and warships were deployed. Destination: Kamine Island.
"I think I envy you, Setsuna. You... have such a strong resolve and are capable of making the difficult choices." Rai must have seen that man in dozens of hopeless situations but rather than give up, he endured and continued to live as he believed.
"It was Gundam who brought me this far. You too are capable of becoming Gundam if you can overcome the distortion in your heart."
"Easy for you to-" He felt a splitting pain in his skull and collapsed to the ground, gripping his head with his hands. "GAAAHHH!!"
And as Rai continued to scream in pain, the image of Setsuna F. Seiei merely looked on.
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(Posted Mon, 04 Jan 2010 04:31)
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