Trust is just a Five-Letter Word

Disclaimer: I don’t own this anime or any other anime, so leave me alone!

A/N: You don’t like my style of writing? Too bad! Any sentences in Italics are thoughts.

Chapter Six: The Angel is Gone

Azuma had tried to keep the story of Ikhny’s mutated EX a secret, but by the end of the day, even the Ingrid pilots knew about the "EX Freak." It didn’t help that the stories kept changing, either. What simply started out as an EX color difference ended up as a hideous evolution which involved Ikhny sprouting tentacles all over her body. As a result, many people tried to get into the infirmary to catch a glimpse of Ikhny. Some even tried to fake injuries to get in (Zero was unanimous on this one) but no one was allowed to see her except for Dr. Rill and her assistants.

Of all people, Reina was especially interested in this recent turn of events. Now she was asking everyone what he or she knew about Ikhny before any of this EX business began. After several hours of "investigatin’ the folks," Reina had all the information she needed. Now her real mission would begin. But first… she had to make an important phone call.

To her convenience, one of the girl’s bathrooms had flooded earlier, so it would be completely empty. Reina quickly ran inside with a small laptop, slipped into the middle stall, and locked the door. She then began to type furiously, and a small screen popped up after a while. Reina cleared her throat and then spoke in a clear British accent.

"This is Reiko Hitoshi, calling Thomas Michael Reynolds." There was no response. Reiko tried again, this time with less patience. "Reiko calling Tom. Are you there?" The screen flickered, and turned pink, with two words flashing across the screen: PLEASE WAIT. At this, Reiko’s temper shot through the roof. "HEY REYNOLDS! ARE YOU THERE OR NOT!?"

The screen flickered again, and this time it showed a very tired old man wearing blue striped pajamas. He yawned loudly, and ran his hand through his disheveled gray hair.

"What…who is this…" Tom rubbed his drooping brown eyes and yawned again. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Tom you idiot, it’s me!"

"Reiko!?" Tom’s eyes now shot open, and he looked full of energy now. "What’s happening? What did you learn? My god…what the hell happened to you?"

"What do you mean…oh." Reiko fingered her multicolored hair and touched her face, which had a different look today. Bright green eye shadow, baby blue blush, false eyelashes, and black lipstick. She blushed slightly and coughed. "It’s my disguise."

Tom gaped at her, disbelieving. "That ain’t no disguise kid. That’s a face from hell."

"Shut up! Listen, I found the new target. We were right, she’s a GOA candidate and she’s already been infected."

"Damn. Who is it this time?"

"Her name is Ikhny Allecto, and she used to be repairer candidate eighty-seven. But recently, she has shown signs of having the EX ability, and they have made her a pilot candidate. But there’s more. Yesterday, her EX mutated into something that she has no way of controlling. It seems to completely wear her out when she uses it. She's progressing at an alarming rate, and-"

"That’s very nice and everything, but I wanted to know who infected her! I didn’t want to know what happened to her!"

Reiko sighed. "I don’t know yet. I’ve narrowed it down to two suspects."

"Reiko, we don’t have much time! She could be raped by that horrible demon any day now! Find out who it is, and eliminate them!"

"YOU DON’T HAVE TO RAISE YOUR BLOODY VOICE!" Reiko screamed at the screen.

"WHO’S RAISING THEIR VOICE? I’M NOT!" Tom roared back. "JUST TELL ME WHEN TO BRING THE DAMN GUNDAMS, WILL YOU?"

"BRING THEM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!"

"FINE! JUST REMEMBER NOT TO SCREW THIS UP!"

"WHY YOU BAS-"

Before Reiko could finish her sentence, Tom had cut off the connection between them.

"-tard. Fine. I don’t need him! I can do this all by myself!" ______________________________________________________________________________________

Ikhny woke with a start, still dressed in her uniform, and on a bed that was not hers. She wanted to sit up, but her body was screaming in protest, so she lay still, momentarily too tired to identify her surroundings. (Not that she could have anyway. Her glasses were off.) She felt like crap at the moment. Her head was pounding mercilessly, her vision was blurry, and her muscles felt stiff. She couldn’t move her arms and legs without feeling immense pain, and to top it all off, someone was touching her forehead!

"Get off!" Ikhny yelled angrily, and Dr. Rill almost fell back in surprise.

"Ninety-two! You’re awake!"

Ikhny didn’t reply. Ignoring the pain, she sat up and glared at Dr. Rill. After a uncomfortable period of silence, Ikhny asked, "Where is Tak?" in a dangerously low voice.

"He’s…in…the Observatory…"

"Give me my glasses."

"Uh…" Dr. Rill backed away slightly. Ikhny was acted very strangely…in fact, she was acting more like Hiead then her usual sweet self. What was happening? It was as if she was talking to a devil instead of a fifteen-year-old girl.

"I said give me my glasses!" said Ikhny, her voice rising with each word. "Are you trying to make me mad?"

"H-h-here," said Dr. Rill, her voice quavering slightly. She flinched when Ikhny snatched them from her hand, and she backed away when Ikhny slowly stood up and limped towards the door. Just then, the door opened, and Azuma came through. His face held a surprised look when he saw Ikhny.

"Ninety-two? What are you doing up? You should be resting."

Ikhny now turned her glare at Azuma. "I feel fine," she said in the same low voice. "If you’ll excuse me, I have some training to do."

"Training? Ninety-two, you’re injured!"

"I said I was fine! Leave me alone!" With that, Ikhny limped out of the infirmary, leaving behind a shaken doctor and a confused instructor.

"Is…she having her period or something?" Azuma asked, completely confounded.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Hiead took a few steps towards the infirmary, then stopped and went in the other direction. Then he stopped again and headed back towards the infirmary, unable to decide what to do.

This is ridiculous, he thought. She’s my partner anymore, and it’s not as if I care about her. She’s inferior. A total nuisance. Now that that’s all cleared up… WHY AM I SO FREAKING WORRIED?

"Hey Hiead!"

Great. Just what he needed. Little Miss Big Mouth. He scowled as he saw her ran towards him. She was wearing too much make up again. He could see the green eye shadow from a mile away…

"What do you want?" Hiead snarled unpleasantly as Reina stopped in front of him. She didn’t say anything. She just pointed in the direction of the infirmary.

"Aren’t ya gonna see how Miss Ikhny’s doin’?" Reina asked, as if that was the most obvious thing in the world. Hiead glared at her.

"Why should I go see her? She has nothing to do with me."

Reina stared at him and then scowled in anger. "You can’t be serious. No one, and I mean no one, is this cold-hearted."

"Well guess what?" said Hiead as he walked in the direction of his room. "I am."

"Selfish bastard."

Hiead stopped. "What did you call me?" His voice was calm, but his fists were clenched.

"You heard me. You are a selfish, egotistical bastard who deserves to have a bullet stuck up his ass!"

"You little bitch."

Reina scoffed and went into a fighting stance. "I’ve been called worse."

"I don’t doubt that," Hiead retorted as he also took up a stance. Just as they were about to attack, they heard rumbling in the distance.

"Out of the way!" Kizna yelled as she sped past the two. Zero lagged behind her and stopped when he saw Reina and Hiead.

"Did you hear?" Zero asked, completely oblivious to Reina’s and Hiead’s fighting stances. "Ikhny’s back on her feet!"

"She is?" said Reina in surprise as she forgot about Hiead. "How is she?"

"From what I’ve heard, she’s turned into a female version of Hiead. Ugh." Zero frowned at the thought. "But that can’t be true. She’s too nice. Well, see ya!" Zero then took off after Kizna.

"A female version of Mr. Sensitive?" Reina repeated in disbelief. "No way! This I gotta see! Are ya comin’ Hiead?"

Hiead didn’t answer.

"Fine, then I’ll go alone." Reina stuck her tongue out at Hiead and ran off, leaving him alone with his own confused thoughts.

______________________________________________________________________________________

"Ikhny, are you alright?"

"You’re still limping, maybe you should lie down."

"Hey, I don’t see any tentacles!"

Ikhny tried to get away from the screaming crowd, but the bore down on her in every direction. They were fussing over her, asking her stupid questions about her health when they could see that she was alright, and they were treating her like she was made of glass. Like she was delicate and fragile. Ikhny felt her blood boil, and she felt an unspeakable rage from within.

"Get away from me!" She screamed, but no one would listen. At this, she snapped and punched the person that was nearest right in the face. The person fell, and the crowd gasped and lapsed into silence. Kizna slowly got up after a while, and she clutched her injured cheekbone, which felt as if it were on fire.

"Ikhny…" was all she could say.

Ikhny said nothing. She pushed past the stunned crowd and headed towards the observatory.

End of chapter six. (Which sucks)