2010-06-01 - Welcome Back

20 HOURS EARLIER

Allelujah Haptism was immediately extracted from his Gundam upon docking with Ptolemaios II, as he wasn't terribly capable of doing it himself. Gone pale from blood loss due to injuries sustained both outside and within the cockpit, the crew had waisted no time in gettig him on a stretcher and rushing the wounded super soldier to the medical bay. Barely holding on to consciousness, Al watched the racing lights of corridor ceiling become fuzzier as his vision slowly faded to darkness. "Marie..." He murmured, too low to be more intellegible that a mumble, "Sorry..."

NOW

An unfamiliar ceiling awaited Allelujah Haptism when his eyes fluttered open.

His first instinct was to rise from his bed, but a spasm of pain raking his body the second he tried any sudden movements swiftly convinced him it was better to stay put. He was alive, then..? Miraculous, considering the hell he'd put his body through after several months of malnutrition and slow atrophy. It was a testament to the strength of the Super Soldier program that even a 'defective' specimen like him would be capable of such a feat, but his biological engineering had it's limits and he'd surely crossed them at some point in that battle. His body was making him pay for it now.

So Al slumped back in his bed and let his eyes settle as the bright lights became a little /less/ bright, and the the medical bay began to fall into view. It slowly dawned in the Meister, then, that he was not alone in this room, as a blurry figure slowly came into vision. But who...?

There wasn't much need for a pilot when the Ptolemaios was grounded; Anew was put to better use elsewhere, and had alternated between working medbay and the docking bay. Human and machine alike had been damaged in the battle the day before. Thankfully, Anew's experience in mobile suit engineering and regeneration treatment came in handy at times like this.

She just wished that her skills weren't needed.

Somewhere between changing the compress on Allelujah Hapetism's head and running tests on the damaged Cherudim, she found some time to make something to eat. And that something was a hardy beef stew. With a number of the crew injured or fatigued, there was no better meal that Anew Returner could conjure up to assuage their exhaustion.

And in Allelujah's case, he probably needed it. He'd lost some weight since the last time she'd seen him; she couldn't imagine that the EFA fed their prisoners well. It's for this reason that she brings Allelujah his meal even before Lyle, hoping that perhaps when she returned, he'd finally be awake.

She sets the stew down on a table, and as she does, she hears him stir from his bed; she stops at his side, then peers over him, eyes wide with a mix of curiosity and concern.

"Welcome home," she says, smiling.

"Miss Returner..?" That lone silver eye widened in shock, "Then...i'm on the Ptolemaios?" Surely enough, the memories all come rushing back like blood this head, hopefully curing him for the moment of all thos damn ellipses. "Ugh...my head..." Whoops, no such luck. Al reaches for the dressing around his head tentatively, but avoids touching it, "Guess I screwed up pretty badly out there." It was sobering to think there'd been so many risks taken just for him, he certainly /hoped/ that wasn't the case, that there'd been some other large objective behind such a large-scale operation...

But hey, the hearty smell of the stew finally hits his nose, and the Super Soldier's stomach slipped an audible growl, "That's for me?" He stared down at the heaping bowl of food, wondering when the last time he'd actually had a proper meal, "Thank you, Miss Returner." The single-eyed gaze turned back towards the young woman and, for the first time in months, Allelujah allowed himself a genuine smile, "And...thanks for being here, when I woke up." That stew smelled extremely good..but he'd also not been properly fed in a while. For her sake, he hoped he could keep it down (But then, this is where the handy fact of being of Super Soldier came in). Carefully gripping a spoon, he'll slowly dip into the to thick broth...

And pause on the cusp of that, unable to enjoy this until he knows. "Is everyone okay?" His visible eyes is suddenly filled with concern and a palpable touch of dread; the Super Soldier didn't think he could forgive himself if any more friends or allies were dead on account of him, "Lockon..?" Cherudim had been badly damaged, as he recalled, "Miss Sumeragi?" The Ptolemaios itself had taken it's fair share of damage, "And..well, I know Setsuna is fine." Compared to the rest of them, the pilot of the 00 Gundam had made it through without much a scratch, and he hadn't even relied on Trans Am. The Twin Drive...it was no small wonder that it was the lynchpin of Aeolia Schoenberg's plans.

There's little that Anew's able to do onboard the ship in the midst of a battle, especially when comparing herself to Celestial Being's Gundam Meisters; the least she could do is be there for them when they were back onboard.

"Yes, I made some for everybody," she says. Before he can move to get up from the bed, she lifts the bowl from the nearby table and offers it to him. "I know it's not much, but I thought that it might be good for you to eat something." With Al in his present condition, and the Ptolemaios grounded, it's likely that there'll be many such meals in the days to come. If there was anything to be thankful for, it was that they had easy access to fresh food; the Ptolemy wasn't going anywhere.

There's apparently more than just that to be thankful for, and Anew lowers her eyes, embarrassed, as Allelujah offers his gratitude. "It was nothing." Anew Returner, paragon of modesty.

"Everyone is fine, though some are better than others. They'll be glad to know you're awake. I'm sure you'll see them soon." She avoids saying anything more specific, particularly because the Lockon Allelujah is acquainted with is not the Lockon that he remembers.

"You did a good job, considering the circumstances," she says, finally. She was worried about him when he first arrived here; he wasn't the glowing beacon of good health, and certainly getting knocked around in space didn't help matters much, either.

She just hopes a few knocks in the head were the reason for Allelujah's sudden erratic behavior.

A great deal of weight suddenl felt lifted from Al's shoulders, which slacked in tension noticably, "That's a relief..." So everyone was okay in the end...he imagined he would need to get caught up to speed on everything that had happened at some point, once he was back on his feet. Things such as Lockon not being Lockon and someone who said they were Tieria (Who the super soldier still thought /was/ Tieria) coming to visit him during his time at Fort Stroude.

For now, though? Bottoms up!

The stew was the perfect temperature; neither too hot nor too cold, a spoonful of every ingredient savored slowly in Al's mouth before swallowing smoothly. "It's...." He stared down at the meal in near slack-jawed wonder before taking another helping, "It's..../incredible/, Miss Returner! I can't recall the last time I had something so good." It may be /too/ good; he'd have to watch the pace at which he ate or he risked ruining the whole meal.

"I'm just glad we were able to get away safely." The Meister spoke quietly once he was able to pause in his meal, somberingly chiding himself for letting his darker half get the better of him once again. He...they had almost...no, it was better not to think about it, right now. "I just wish I could've convinced her to come with us..." Maybe this wasn't the best time, he thinks, maybe it would be better to wait until everyone had a chance to hear about this. But Allelujah didn't think he could help talking to someone about it right now, and Anew happened to be here.

Anew sits on the edge of the bed.

"I think everyone is happy to have you back. Even with the Ptolemaios in its present condition." After Allelujah's capture, things began to fall apart for Celestial Being. Members of Celestial Being suddenly left as Sumeragi had, or had been reassigned without warning as Christina had. She could only hope that with Sumeragi and Allelujah's return, that normalcy would return to the crew of the Ptolemaios.

Anew's cheeks pinken at Allelujah's compliment. "I-It's nothing," she stammers again. She looks away, trying her best to surpress the rising blush. For a moment, she sits in silence, hands in lap, as Allelujah relishes in his food. For a second, her own mind wanders, but Allelujah's words pull her back into reality.

"'Her'?" she repeats. "If she was being held captive, she's in Katharon custody. They're currently doing a review of all prisoners in Fort Stroud." What they planned on doing with those that weren't political prisoners, she wasn't sure. It was probably better that she didn't know. "If you'd like, I can talk to Sumeragi-san. I'm sure she has some pull in the review process."

It never once occured to Anew that he might be talking about someone in EFA ranks.

"She's not a prisoner." Allelujah corrected Anew's assumption quietly, his chin tilting an inch or lower than before. Good as it was, that stew had suddenly become just a bit less appetizing, at the moment. "She's...she's with the A-LAWS at the moment, the one who always seemed to fight me. It turns out she's another member of the super soldier program, like me." His lower lip settled habitually between his teeth, "We know each other. She was the one who gave me my name, back then..." The Super Soldier closes his eyes, and it's not hard at all to re-envision this sterile, immaculate wing of the Ptolemaios as the area that had housed (incubated, rather) a young girl with no senses but the projection of her own thoughts to reach out to the world around her. He'd promised her he would come back for her...but just how was going to keep it?

"Her name is Marie." The Meister looked up at the other member of Celestial Being, hands folded calmly in his lap, "Marie Parfacy. Though, right now..." His unobscured eye glanced to the side, "She calls herself by another name. I think the military created a new persona for her at some point, but I know the real Marie is still there. I've spoken with her." And handily sent her right back into Somamode with his quantum brainwaves, nice one Al.

Just as Anew couldn't have known who he was talking about, Al couldn't know this was the same person the young woman had herself visited during her incarceration with Katharon. He knew she'd been capture for a while, of course (and stressed himself wonderfully over it), but had no indication that Celestial Being were the ones actually holding her. Given how reclusive they were, the idea that others may already know her hadn't occurred to him. But then, Allelujah could be a bit slow. "Sorry.." Shaking his head, the Meister's smile was a bit more strained, "I should probably wait until everyone is around to hear this, or i'll just be repeating myself." And he wasn't much of a talker in the first place.

Anew lifts a hand. "Please, don't apologize. I can't speak for all of Celestial Being, but we have already mounted one rescue mission. I am sure that with time, we will be able to mount another." Not immediately, of course; not after all the damage they had taken, and not without the intelligence necessary to ensure that the risk would be kept to a minimum.

There's still a lot that Anew doesn't understand. Like what the Super Soldier Program was, or why Allelujah had to be given a name by someone else. But Anew doesn't press the issue any further. After all Allelujah has endured already, it's probably best if she avoided the more sensitive topics.

Which judging from Allelujah's pensive expression, this probably was.

Anew turns to face Allelujah, and for a second it looks as though she's about to say or do something--but nothing comes. A moment passes, and finally, she sets a hand on the Kyrios pilot's soldier. "We'll figure out something. So please, don't worry."

There was still so much for Allelujah to process. He was trying not to think about it right now for fear of being overwhelmed, weak and meager as he was in his current state (though that miracle stew was doing something; he already felt his strength returning to some degree). It was probably better not to get to deeply into anything...and that's what Anew's hand on his shoulder reminded the Meister of.

She likely had no frame of reference for much of what he'd just said, but the operative had listened, smiled and offered encouragement anyways. After months of visits including indifferent allies, strange masked men and violent figures from his /last/ incarceration, that simple act of human kindness meant more to the Super Soldier than he could say. His anxiety calmed within his heart, and he felt he could breathe again.

"You're right, of course." He nods with a smile, "We'll figure something out." It was a childish thing to believe in considering the scope of the problems facing Celestial Being, and not just his, but at that moment he wanted to believe in it more desperately than anything else...and so he did. "I..." Al turned his face way for a second, and he was still staring at the bowl of stew for lack of anything else when he continued, "I didn't think i'd ever see any of you again, and I thought that would be okay." That he had earned it. Sometimes, he still did, "I'm glad I was wrong." There was another way. They could still fix things, maybe, with the power entrusted to them in Setsuna's 00 Gundam..

But for now, he's still healing, and that stew likely needs to go around, "Thanks for coming, and for listening." Al offered the lavender-haired girl a smile weighed down with less baggage than before, "But I think i'll get some rest now. You don't need to stick around on my account." If there was any danger he was sure she'd have told him, so he'll assume the ship was in a safe place, "I don't want the rest of that stew getting cold for anyone else, after all." You hear that, Lockon? Al has your back.

"I'm glad," Anew says, pressing forth a soft smile. "Almost all of us are together again." Hopefully, Christina would join their ranks again, whenever she finished whatever task assigned to her by Sumeragi.

Anew rises to her feet, her hands clasped chastely behind her back. "It wasn't any trouble at all," she says. Allelujah's right in his assessment; despite the fact he has slept for the better part of the day, he likely needs more rest than what he has already; a bowl of beef stew and some exhaustion-induced sleep were not going to be enough to assuage his fatigue.

"I'll make sure everyone else gets some," she says, and she begins to make her exit. The stew is still on the burner on low, and likely is still as warm as when she left it--but there's no need to keep the rest of the crew waiting.

And there was one person in particular she was looking forward to serving.

Anew stops at the door, then turns back to face Allelujah. "I'll be by to check on you later." She attempts a reassuring smile, then turns around, her feet carrying her to the mess.