Hawk closes his eyes once more as Xelloss is taken away,
then there's a ringing in his ear. He holds a hand over it, forcing
himself to sound calm again. "Operator."
"Yeah, I need an exit fast!" The voice at the other end
causes him to open his eyes again in surprise.
"Zelgadis?"
"Yeah," Zel says as he glances around the phone, the police
van he had been carried away in on its side and burning. "There was an
accident, goddamn car accident. All of a sudden, boom!"
Hawk frowns as he listens then starts typing to locate the
crewmember he had thought was arrested. "Somebody up there still likes
me." A few of the symbols pause in their scrolling and glow.
"I've got you," the operator says as he taps at his map of
the city.
"Just get me out of here, fast!"
"The nearest exit's Franklin and Erie, an old TV repair
shop."
"Right," Zel replies and hangs up, glancing at the burning
van once more before turning away. He lets out a breath then starts
walking down the crosswalk.
As soon as the sound of a hang up reaches his ears, Hawk
gets called again. "Operator."
"Hawk, it's me," Seraya says as she leads the way away from
a pawnshop.
"Is Xelloss alive," Lina asks urgently, looking at the
blond girl as she walks beside her.
"Is Xelloss alive, Hawk," Ser asks.
"Yes, they're moving him. I don't know where to yet." The
blond looks back up.
"He's alive." Lina frowns slightly, turning her gaze back
to the way they're walking with a thoughtful expression. "We need an
exit."
"You're not far from Zelgadis," Hawk notes.
"Zelgadis?"
"I know! I sent him to Franklin and Erie."
"Got it," Seraya replies and hangs up.
The silent shop is disturbed when Zelgadis kicks the boards
out of the way of the door. Dust flies as broken equipment reflects
light it hasn't seen in years. After getting through, Zel walks to the
back where a black phone is ringing for the first time in recent
memory. Unlike the table it's sitting on, there's no dust on it.
"Got him," Hawk notes to Gourry, who turns to Zel's screen
and taps a couple buttons. Zel's eyes fly open as he gasps;
consciousness returns to his real body then he glances around as he
relaxes a little, Gourry pulling the plug out of his neck.
After being helped out of the chair, he goes over to
standing behind Hawk, looking at the Matrix code. "Where are they?"
"Making the call," the operator replies as he keeps hitting
keys and buttons. Zel nods slowly.
"Good." He pats the black-haired man's shoulder then starts
to back away.
Seraya followed by Lina, Eris and Garv, heads into the TV
shop and back to the phone that's ringing once more.
Zelgadis pulls the blanket away from a plasma rifle and
picks it up, starting back quietly towards the operator's unwatched
back. He lifts the weapon and aims with the screen attached to the
weapon, crosshairs centering on Hawk.
Seraya goes around to the table's far side and looks up,
"You first, Lina."
Zelgadis fires the rifle, a bolt of electricity slamming
into Hawk's back. The operator flies forward against the screens from
the force of the impact, instinctively staggering to the right to
avoid another shot. "Shit," Zel mutters when his first shot doesn't do
the job and quickly charges a second shot.
Hawk turns as he moves to his right, seeing Zelgadis
aiming. The green-eyed man is blinded by a second blast, being knocked
off his feet as the gun rips up his right side. He hits the ground and
doesn't move.
"Hawk," Gourry whispers as he sees his brother fall then
looks up, shouting, "NO!" He charges towards Zelgadis screaming, who
turns and fires again, the weapon screaming back.
"I don't know, it just went dead," Lina says as she holds
the phone to her ear after not disappearing like expected. Seraya
holds out her hand and listens for a moment after Lina gives her the
headset, then slams it down and pulls out her cell phone, dialing with
a sigh.
Zelgadis steps over Gourry's charred body towards the
younger brother.
Eris turns her head from watching the shop's front door
towards Seraya, gun held in both hands. The blond paces as she waits
to be answered.
Zel leans down and tugs the headset off Hawk's head,
dropping the gun beside the smoking operator.
Seraya continues walking back and forth, every ring making
the knot in her stomach grow larger and tighter.
Zelgadis slowly makes his away around the operator's chair
to where Seraya's motionless body is, pulling on the headset and
adjusting it to fit him better.
"Hello Seraya." Seraya stops in her tracks, turning towards
Lina as the one that answers isn't the one she expected.
"Zelgadis? Where's Hawk?"
Zelgadis takes in a slow, deep breath as he leans over the
small girl, admiring her motionless face. "You know," he starts
quietly, "For a long time, I thought I was in love with you."
Seraya listens as she starts to slowly pace again. "I used
to dream about you," he continues.
"You're a beautiful woman, Seraya." Zelgadis runs his
fingers through a few strands of her long hair, and then the
affectionate expression on his face fades, since he can't feel the
girl's softness.
"Too bad things had to turn out this way." Seraya stops
pacing once more, lifting her head a little and looking at Eris as she
realizes what happened.
"You killed them," she says in a disbelieving voice.
"What," Garv growls as he rips off his glasses, tossing
them to the ground with a quiet shatter.
"Oh God," Eris replies to Ser's statement, gun lowering a
little as she watches the blond talking to the phone.
"I'm tired, Seraya." He continues talking softly, face so
close to Seraya's they're almost touching. "I'm tired of this war,
tired of fighting. I'm tired of this ship, being cold, eating the same
goddamn goop everyday. I'm tired of waking up stiff because of this
joke of a body, of not having a scene of touch," he says lowly, then
pauses a moment before looking away from the girl's face. "But most of
all, I'm tired of that jack-off and all his bullshit."
He gets off Seraya and goes across to Xelloss, jumping up
and sitting on their leader's body like a saddle. "Surprise, asshole,"
he shouts at the still face. "I bet you never saw this coming, did
you?" He crosses his arms on Xel's chest, glaring at the closed purple
eyes. "God, I wish I could be there, when they break you. I wish I
could walk in just when it happens so right then, you'd know it was
me."
"You gave them Xelloss," Seraya accuses, Lina watching the
shorter girl.
"He lied to us, Seraya, he tricked us. He tricked me! If
you had told us the truth, we would've told you to shove that red pill
right up your ass," Zel says loudly, spittle flying from his mouth and
landing on Xelloss' face, as he gets angrier.
"That is not true, Zelgadis, he set us free," Seraya tries
to reason with the stone-skinned man.
"'Free.' You call this 'free'," Zelgadis mutters as he sits
up, looking down at his rock hands. "I had a normal life in there.
Here, I'm just a freak, a circus sideshow and because of that, all I
do is what he tells me to do. If I have to choose between that and the
Matrix," he nods to himself, as if finalizing his decision with
himself, "I choose the Matrix." He climbs off Xel's body.
"The Matrix isn't real!"
"I disagree, Seraya," he answers as he walks deliberately
slow to Garv's chair next to Xel's. "I think the Matrix can be more
real than this world. All I do is pull the plug here," he says as he
reaches up for the jack at the back of Garv's neck. "But there, you
have to watch Garv die."
Seraya's gaze rises then she turns to Garv. "Seraya," he
says lowly, a fist clenched in anger at what he knows is about to
happen.
Zel pulls the connection out of Garv's neck, alarms going
off.
Garv's head flies back, arms rising a bit as if reaching
for something before he collapses to the floor, lifeless.
"No," Eris cries as she moves quickly to Garv's side,
dropping her gun and putting both hands on the dead man's back. Lina
looks on in horror.
"Welcome to the real world, huh, baby," Zel asks with a
cruel smile in his voice.
"But you're out, Zelgadis, you can't go back," Seraya tries
desperately to sound calm as Eris looks up at her, trembling visibly.
"Oh no, that's what you think," Zel says as he walks around
Garv's chair to Eris' beside it. "They're going to reinsert my body. I
go back to sleep, and when I wake up, I won't remember a goddamned
thing. By the way," he starts as he lifts his hand, reaching for the
plug at the base of Eris' neck, "If you have anything terribly
important to say to Eris, I suggest you do it now."
"Oh no, please don't," Seraya whispers as she shakes her
head, unwilling to see another friend die.
"Not like this," Eris says softly as she shakes her head,
then looks up to meet Seraya's eye, tears rolling down her face, "Not
like this." Her eyes suddenly roll back as her body goes limp, falling
dead on her back beside Garv.
"Too late," Zel says as another alarm goes off.
"Goddamn you, Zelgadis," Seraya shouts, slim body visibly
shivering as she closes her eyes, looking away from her two dead
friends.
"Don't hate me, Seraya," Zel replies, walking around
Phibrizio's body and his own empty chair to the one next to Seraya's.
"I'm just a messenger. And right now, I'm going to prove it to you,"
he continues with a dark tone, stepping to beside Lina's prone body.
"If Xelloss was right, then there's no way I can pull this plug."
Seraya slowly opens her eyes with a terrified expression
she can't hide, looking down at Lina. The redhead meets Ser's eye and
straightens from being crouched over Eris and Garv, knowing she'll be
next. "I mean, if Lina's the One, then there'd have to be some kind of
a miracle to stop me. Right? I mean, how can she be the One, if she's
dead?"
Ser swallows as she forces herself to look away from Lina,
unable to watch the woman die. "You never did answer me before, if you
bought into Xelloss' bullshit.
"Come on, all I want is a little yes or no." Zel listens to
the silence a moment. "Look into her eyes."
The blond does, lifting her gaze back to the fiery orbs she
was hoping to avoid. "Those big pretty eyes, and tell me. Yes, or no."
Lina tenses as Seraya stares at her, sure this is it.
"Yes," the shorter girl is barely able to whisper.
"No!
"I don't believe it!" Zel looks back in shock at Hawk, who
half-collapses against a wall and aims the rifle at Zelgadis.
"Believe it or not, you piece of shit, you're still going
to burn," he cries before opening fire, the lightning bolt blasting
Zel back through several pipes and against a wall. The blue-skinned
man then collapses dead on the ground, electricity still burning
through the metal implants inside his body. Hawk looks at the fallen
traitor and grits his teeth, "That's for Gourry."
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