Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Childhood Reborn ❯ OZ's True Form ( Chapter 23 )

It seemed like hours rather than minutes when Duo finally spoke.

 

“T-the orphanage.” He stuttered. “He…they…”

 

Jacinda shook her head.

 

“He wouldn't know until the moment he stepped foot in front of it.” She said. “He found out it was a church, but he just believed that no one else was in it except the rebels. He didn't know until he got to see for himself that there were hostages including the children and as much as tried, he couldn't stop the orders and it would torture him deeply.”

 

The past

 

Cebastian stared in amazement and horror as the house of worship erupted into flames as the bombs hit their targets. Deafening, terrified screams could be heard until they too were drowned in a sea of smoke and fire. He was unable to move or speak; he couldn't even tear his eyes away from the scene. He couldn't even feel sting on his cheek from when his superior officer hit him for questioning OZ's commands for bombing the church.”

 

“Well, we got the order!” The commander would say. “Those rebels aren't moving, time to blow the place up!”

 

Cebastion heart jumped into his throat. Through his binoculars he had seen the children inside the orphanage huddled in a corner while the rebels paced around, their guns at their hips.

 

“Sir.” He said. “Blow it up? But there are children inside!”

 

The commander shrugged.

 

“What choice do we have?” He said. “If those insurgents aren't budging, then we might as well do it for them.”

 

“But sir, we should at least get the kids and the church members out of there, try to negotiate with the rebels and get them out!”

 

The commander and the soldiers around him snorted.

 

“Negotiate with the enemy for some L2 trash.” He said. “We are doing them a favor.”

 

Everyone but Cebastion laughed cruelly. It made his blood boil.

 

“I don't agree sir!” He said. “This is wrong!”

 

Immediately the hearty laughs immediately stopped and the faces became hard.

 

“Are you questioning me soldier.” The hulking commander said approaching Cebastion.

 

Cebastion gulped a little but held his ground.

 

“I am Sir.” He said. “Regardless of where they are from, there are still children and followers of God in that building. Just shooting grenades in there to get some rebels would not only be foolish, but it would be plain murder!”

 

CRACK

 

Cebastion didn't even realize till he was down on the ground that his commanding officer had given him a strong right hook.

 

“How dare you question my authority?!” He yelled. “You question my authority then you are questioning the Alliance and that is cause for treason!! Are you a traitor then Grannos; a lily livered traitor for some L2 street rats?!”

 

Cebastion spat some blood and stood up.

 

“I am not a traitor.” He said. “But I don't like this plan. There must be another way to flush out those rebels without taking the lives of innocents!”

 

The commander sneered.

 

“THAT'S IT!” He yelled. “Grannos, you will obey the orders of the Alliance or you will be arrested!!”

 

He smirked to make sure Cebastion was listening.

 

“I am sure that nurse of yours will not be happy to know that her lover was nothing but a coward and even worse a coward who will be tried and sentenced for treason!” He said. “Don't think we were born yesterday Grannos. We know about you and her.”

 

“Ohh yeah that nurse!” Another soldier gaffed. I will be more than glad to provide her a shoulder to cry on….and a lot more!”

 

“Whew yeah Jacinda…what a piece of action I bet she is! You honestly want to lose her for some L2 garbage? What a loser! But hey maybe I'll have a chance with her then…hehe.”

 

More soldiers voiced their opinions, but before Cebastion could respond, the commander stepped back in.

 

“ENOUGH!” He bellowed. “Everyone get to their positions including you Grannos! You will fire on command. Anyone who doesn't will answer to me! Is that understood!?”

 

“YES SIR!”

 

“NOW GO!”

 

The soldiers dispersed. Cebastion stood there while the commander turned his back, the glare in his eye said he meant business. If Cebastion disobeyed there was no telling what the Alliance would do, especially if was marked a traitor. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place unsure what to do.

 

And when the order would be called to bomb the orphanage, Cebastion could only look on in horror. He would aim his gun, but because there was such a flurry of smoke, he was able to keep his bullets from striking the orphanage. But that did not soothe his soul as the bombs and bullets of his comrades hit the orphanage dead on. Brick, wood and cement would crumble, fire would explode from the glass windows, and the screams of the innocent would fly with the wind. And all of this was done, as the Alliance stated, for the price of peace? But whose peace did they really mean?

 

A few hours later Cebastion would be ordered to investigate the rubble for survivors. While his comrades haphazardly walked through the mess of ash and corpses, Cebastion did all he could to keep himself from collapsing to his knees in grief and guilt. Finally, he was unable to continue and slipped out for some air. He walked a few feet away and lifted his head to the night cycled sky and inhaled.

 

It was the snapping and cracking of rubble underfoot that Cebastion opened his eyes and turned his head. There standing in the shadows he made out a small figure. Pretending not to notice Cebastion dropped his head and walked in small steps around like he was searching for something. He lifted his eyes to see a child, a boy, not much older than 10 or 11 standing in the shadows. He was wearing a shoddy shirt, shorts, and shoes, with a small cruicifix around his neck. He had deep purple eyes and chestnut brown hair tied into a long braid in the back. Cebastion could hear his sniffles, could make out the steady river of tears streaming down his face, and the tight fist that shook quickly. Cebastion felt his guilt grow a hundred fold.

 

`He must have been a part of the church.' Cebastion thought to himself. `He looks like one of the orphans. God, what have we done? What have I done?'

 

Cebastion continued to pace around, but didn't take his eyes off of the boy.

 

`I'm so sorry kid.' He thought to himself. `I should have done more to stop this. You didn't deserve this. You may be from L2, but you aren't trash. You and those in that church, you had nothing to do with this.'

 

Suddenly he heard the voices of his fellow soldiers leaving the church and that caused the boy to scurry away. Cebastion wanted to chase after him, but knew he would be giving the boy a death wish if he had. Still when he would be back on his ship headed back to Earth, the image of the boy would be haunting him.

 

The Present

 

Jacinda stared at Duo who was trying very hard to keep his emotions in check. He was quiet, his head was down and Jacinda could see he was shaking slightly. But she knew she had to continue.

 

“Cebastion.” She said. “Cebastion was never the same after that. When he got back, he just escaped into his bunk. He would hardly eat and when he did he would just vomit it back up. He had screaming nightmares and would have to be sedated heavily just to get a few hours rest. It came to the point where we had to admit him into a ward in the army hospital and give him intravenous fluids to keep his organs from failing. We even put him on suicide watch when we saw him eyeing a pair of surgical scissors that had been left behind. The commander just said Cebastion had probably come down with a nasty virus on L2 and that it was messing with him body and mind.”

 

She sighed.

 

“It would be weeks before he recovered enough to tell me what happened, but I already knew. And when I did, my views on the Alliance had changed along with Cebastion's. Murdering innocent children just to flush our some rebels was not a message of peace in my book. It also became apparent that the Alliance was nothing more than just a bunch of high class mechanical savages. I had gotten a letter not long after I heard about the L2 incident. It was a death notice. My parents had been victims of a battle between another rebel group and the Alliance. Little did I know that it wasn't a case of friendly fire, but actually that my parents were with the rebels.”

 

“Your family was against the Alliance?” Trowa interrupted. “But you said they were proud of you for joining?”

 

Jacinda nodded.

 

“In the beginning they were until OZ's true form came out. Just after the death notice, I received a letter from a friend of my parents stating that they had heard about the L2 battle as well as battles of similar natures occurring on the colonies and they realized the Alliance had pretty much been lying the whole time. They said my parents understood and were still proud of me and loved me even if I wanted to continue in the Alliance, but they couldn't take it anymore and wanted to stop them. OZ overtook my city days after L2 and my parents were killed. Of course OZ had tried to cover it up, but thankfully that family friend had the courage to tell me the truth. Cebastion's family would also be victims of the Alliance, but he wouldn't find out until after he recovered. By then we knew, we had been tricked and we weren't in an organization fighting for peace, but an organization fighting for universal dominance through violence and terror. We had to get out.”

 

“So you both left?” Wufei asked. “Was that even possible?”

 

Jacinda shook her head.

 

“It wasn't.” She said. “And he and I would end up paying…with our own lives.”