Memento Mori
Chapter 2: Ebony Feathers
By: Solo Kitsune

The old woman's dream started out peaceful, serene. She was floating in space. Everything about her was weightless, timeless. It rested her aching bones, and she relaxed. The Earth hovered before her in the distance, a beautiful jewel of emerald and lapis. And, perched atop the beautiful globe, was a pair of doves. One dove was fair and soft, the other disturbed her. Its feathers where broken and tattered, its eyes fierce and unfeeling, like the eyes of a raptor. But the fair dove wrapped her wings about her tortured mate, and the male buried his cracked beak in her soft feathers.

Echoeing in space, she could hear the voices, the laughter of the people of the Earth and the Colonies. It was a beautiful, yet haunting sound, one that danced in her ears. She could hear all of them, men, women, children. Laughing, singing, dancing, swapping stories, hearts and dreams. But then, everything went silent. She felt an icy wind course through her silvery hair. Strange, she thought, that there would be wind in space.

Then, the silence was broken. She heard something off in the distance, from behind her. At first, it was too slight to make out, but then it grew closer. Cawing, like a flock of a thousand crows. Soon it grew to a loud din, and the crows, thousands of them it seemed, flew past her. They where so close she could feel the wind from their wings on her weathered skin, and smell it in her nostrils, a smell not unlike that of a corpse. They headed straight for Earth. The female dove then woke from her silent reverie, and began to coo softly. One of the crows struck out at her with its beak, and it was then that the strange male dove struck out. It killed the crow, tearing away its feathers with its beak, ripping with talons. The old woman was taken aback, that a creature so soft and serene could be so...tortured, so bloodthirsty.

The two doves then spread their wings and flew off into space, their rigid wingbeats whispering softly in her ears. Everything began to grow cold around her then, and she began to shiver, causing her bones to ache. Her breath puffed out before her in a silvery haze, and she began to hear crying and lamentations, coming from Earth and the Colonies. It was long, bitter and sorrowful, and she thought that the tears of those people must flow like a river, wild and uncontrollable. Then she saw a hooded, robed figure, wielding a long scythe in its hands. She gasped, and her heart seemed to stop. She feared it was Death, coming to take her. But no, the figure swung the scythe in an arc, scattering the crows in a giant cloud. Some of them where caught on the end of the scythe, and they fell away in a smear of ebony and scarlet. The hood fell away, and the old woman was surprised to see that beneath that hood was the fair elven face of a boy. His large, deep cobalt eyes looked upward to the cawing mass of angered corvids, who seemed to grow in number almost instantly. They then fell upon him in a cloud, overpowering him, pecking ruthlessly at his eyes and scratching his fair skin with their claws.

The Boy Death then fell back with a splash of chestnut brown from his long hair, crying tears of blood from his wounded eyes. His face grew thinner, his skin pale and white. He more resembled Death now, and his frail boney frame could clearly be seen beneath the thin, gossamer robes that billowed about him. He fell into the arms of a strange girl clad in armor. A Valkyrie, the old woman thought, observing the type of dress. The girl cradled the Boy Death in her arms, crying softly. The crows circled about them in a swirling, cawing whirlwind, swallowing them up. A single bird broke from the whirlwind, a corvid larger than the others, with a more pronounced beak. A raven. The raven then transformed and became a girl with hair as dark as her feathers where and almost completely nude, with blood painted on her skin in Celtic war designs. She was like the Morrigan, a bloodthirsty war goddess who would take the form of a raven and fly over the blood-soaked battlefield.

Another being appeared, then, and the old woman recognized it immediately. A Gryphon as black as midnight, a sacred child to the Greek Goddess Nemesis, and feared by the ancient Scythians and other ancient peoples as an Angel of Death. The Celtic war goddess let out a bloodcry, and raised her mighty blade to the mythical beast. The Gryphon lunged forward, wings out and talons extended, and the Angel of Death and the War Goddess clashed. The creature bit down hard on the blade, and the resounding clank pierced the elderly woman's ears like a red hot dagger. Her dream then broke apart and became soft ebony feathers which where whisked away by the cold, lonesome wind.

Lady X awoke from her dream abruptly, sweat beading on her forehead. Her back was stiff and rigid. Before her the computer screen where she had been working at glowed softly in the dimly-lit room. Her hand moved on the mouse, and the seascape of lazilly swimming fish and pastel coral vanished, revealing the blueprints she had been pouring over for the past several hours before she had drifted off. With a grunt she carefully got to her feet and stretched. ::I am getting too old to be doing this::, she thought. The dream she had disturbed her immensely. She hadn't had a dream like that since the wars. But that was a year ago, right? As old as she was, time became something that escaped her. A knocking on her door snapped her back to reality. She spun around to face it.

"Yes? Who is it? Come in."

The door hydraulics hissed open, revealing a rather haggard-looking young man in tattered jeans, boots and a black t-shirt, a cigarette tilting from his cracked lips. He had shoulder-length light brown hair and green eyes.

"Its Brenna. She just came in. She's docking the Nemesis now."

Lady X grunted with approval. "Good. Then I assume those ruffians the Storm Ravens did not try to harm her or cheat her, did they?"

The young man shook his head "Nah, didn't sound like it. She started yammering about a heavy purse and a victory party er somethin'. Sounds like another successful hunt, if ya ask me."

She nodded. "Good. Thats what I like to hear. I will be at the Control Room in a few moments."

The young man nodded and was about to head away, when Lady X stopped him again.

"Oh, and Anasazi? What have I told you about smoking on deck??"

The young man cursed, taking the still-smoldering cigarette from his lips. Grumbling, he stalked away. Lady X chuckled to herself as she pulled her lab coat on, and stepped out into one of the long corridors of her large interstellar mercenary ship, the Yggdrasil.

Despite her age, Lady X looked and acted as sharp as a tack. Her leathery skin was tanned and healthy, her body slender and tight-muscled. Her gnarled hands where calloused from years of hard fighting and toiling over machine parts, blueprints and designs. Her silver hair was tied back in a neat bun on the back of her head. Her eyes where blue, and lined with crease marks from long hours of hard straining and concentration. She walked down the hallways of her creation with an air of authority and certainty.

Lady X had been in the mercenary buisness as long as she could remember. After the fall of the Cinq Kingdom, she had been stripped of her title as a peaceful, honorable knight of the Peacecraft family. Even though she was then too old to perform the duties her title entailed, her warrior's heart was restless, and the deadly technology her mind had been blessed with would tarnish her title, and so she took to the stars, a renegade, and managed to acquire some beneficial allies along the way. The foolish wars of mankind had yielded many resources, many allies, and many opportunities for growth and success of her mercenary buisness. She travelled from colony to colony, picking up war orphans and taking them in as her own. Orphans like Brenna, who was a perfect match for the Nemesis. The Nemesis Mobile Suit was one of Lady X's greatest creations. She had blessed it with a mind all its own, an A.I. far exceeding that of the Mobile Dolls.

::Yes::, she thought to herself, smiling. ::Although my loins have remained barren, it is these forgotten ones, the hapless castaways of war, and the machines of destruction I create with these hands that are my children, my creations, my reasons for living as a warrior. I am unfit to bear the title as a Knight of the Peacecraft name. It is just the same. For I am an orphan, just as they are. There needs to be a place in this universe for those like me, for those warriors who cannot cast down their arms, who still wage silent wars in their hearts.::

Lady X entered the Control Room, and was greeted by those she called her "children". She moved towards the giant soundproof bay windows that overlooked the main hangar area of the Yggdrasil. She saw the Nemesis stalk in on quadruped mode, like a giant jungle cat. It sat down on its haunches, and the cockpit hatch at its chestplate opened up. Lady X smiled as she saw Brenna leap out of the cockpit and alight on the floor, using the low gravity as her aid. Soon the girl was in the control room. Lady X walked over to her and, brushing away some chestnut strands, planted a light kiss on her forehead. Brenna smiled and hugged her warmly.

"I'm home Obaasan, in three days, just like I promised." She pulled away. Lady X smiled. Brenna was the only one of her "children" that was allowed to call her Obaasan, or "Grandmother". Of all the orphans she had taken in, Lady X was most fond of her. She had found Brenna on an L2 Colony when she was seven, lying in a gutter, half-dead from pneumonia and suffering from malnutrition. Lady X had seen destiny in her eyes then, and she knew that the child was destined for the Nemesis. She wondered, to this day, if she had made a heinous mistake with the girl. To give her that machine, that THING, would dash her innocence to dust, to curse her with a fate worse than death. She should have killed the girl when she found her, in that case. Put her out of her misery, release her from the horrendous fate she would be dealt. The dream she had earlier spoke loudly enough. Absently, she gripped the girl's shoulders tighter, causing Brenna to grunt and squirm, staring up with large, cobalt eyes into Lady X's anguished face.

"Obaasan...?"

Lady X snapped out of it just then, and released the girl, who stepped back a bit. Brenna was confused. This...this just wasn't normal for her. She gulped, fumbling nervously for her pack of cigarettes in the pockets of her BDUs.

Lady X shook her head and smiled. "I'm okay, Brenna. Do you have the payment??" she asked, trying to get back down to buisness.

"Hai," Brenna said with a smile, and produced the manilla envelope, handing it to her. She then ran to the doorway. "Its a fat one this time! I'm gonna have a party with the gang tonite to celebrate, if its okay with you."

"Of course, Brenna, of course. Have fun, okay? You've earned it."

The girl smiled. "Hai! That I will! Ja na, Obaasan!" And with that Brenna ran off, laughing merrilly as she went. Lady X looked after her as she went, eyes glossing over with tears. Others in the control room paused to watch her, looks of confusion and concern on their faces.

::Oh God, forgive me for what I have done to this girl. Be safe, my little Death Angel.::