Guardian Angel
By Takemitsu
A foul stench hangs in the air around me… The scent of death fills my nostrils as a thousand hells burn around me, their fires reflecting and redoubling upon the lenses I wear over my eyes. I see the people around me running in terror, screaming, agonized and unheard. Fire, ash and smoke whirl about me in the wake of the demonic apparitions that caused the destruction... Demonic apparitions… If only that is what they were. But I know very well what they are. Mechanical giants, behemoths scavenged by man from a forgotten past. I know these particular machines. I know ever seem, I know every gear. I know where every gear and cog goes, how they turn, what they do.
These beasts of steel hail from my home beyond the sky. They had followed their enemies to this place. And now they come to rain destruction on my new, terrestrial home. I cannot allow this! But I cannot stop it either. They continue to burn and ravage, and I can only watch. Two of the villagers approach me, panicked and afraid. They ask me where their friend is. In a detached manner I gesture to a different machine, that had until now been silent. This one, this particular one… It was the cause of it all… And now a boy who fascinates me, a boy who has caught the deepest threshold of my quest for knowledge has embarked within it to save what is all ready beyond help.
I tell the two villagers to get out, while I myself do all I can to assist the innocents out of the village. Deep down within my soul, I know this is all preordained, and I know this is what was meant to happen. Guilt claws at me like a wild wolf, but I must bear it. The Boy will be fine, I pray. As I leave, I notice the absence of the villagers I spoke to earlier. I turned to watch the carnage I had left behind to see one of the familiar machines do what I prayed would not be necessary. Bullets exploded into the ground beyond one of the villagers, a man who was to be wed the next day. His mangled and bloody body fell down in a heap. His bride, the other villager watched silently and emotionally. Deep inside, I could hear Him scream. The other villagers watched as I did, the bride’s younger brother clutching my leg.
I wanted to avert my eyes from what was to happen next, but cruel and cold curiosity paralyzed me. I felt a terrible feeling… I had made analogies to demons before, but now I truly felt one. I braced for the explosion that only I knew was to come. And if I didn’t know any better, I would have to say the woman accepted it. I held the brother tight, lest he rush off to his own death. We had enough corpses that day. After the light died down, everyone stared in awe at the sight. It was strangely serene. The explosion had put out the flames and the machine He was inside knelt, looking oddly at peace. The moonlight bathing it gave it a horrid appearance; it was like looking at a sleeping devil.
I told the others not to move while I went to retrieve it. They would not ask questions, they knew I was skilled with machines. And they would not see that when I entered the beast’s heart, I took the control seat after gingerly moving His sleeping form aside. Without looking I grasped one of the control stick while my other hand danced across the peripheral, activating the machine. As the thing stood, my mind still dwelt on other things, even as I effortlessly guided the metallic devil to where the others were, setting it back in a kneel. By the time I got Him out, the moon has dipped past the mountains. I let him sleep, telling everyone else to rest as well. For tomorrow, while their journeys would remain stagnant and sedentary, His would truly begin when the sun next rose. And I would be obligated to observe and assist Him along ever step of the way. He cannot know my reasons, nor will he have to.
I am a simple Doctor and his friend, to Him… To myself, there is far more than I can never let into the light until I am absolutely certain of the belief that is just now creeping into my brain. Even if I could reveal everything now, I would not know how. I am so many different people, I am not quite sure as to which one is truly me. Warrior… Doctor… Manipulator… Killer… But there is one thing I am sure of. One thing, one description that remains with me no matter what façade I hide under, be it Citan Uzuki or Hyuuga Ricdeau. I am a Guardian Angel.