Disclaimer: Just in case anyone doesn't know, I don't own Burst Angel or any of the characters from it.

A/N: It's been a while, but I'm writing again. My first Fic in a really long time so be gentle. I hope everyone enjoys and please review, I like those :)

The Fallen Warrior

Chapter 1: I Don't Want to Fight

It was the most painful and fulfilling moment of my life. Every blow I took and received was one step closer I came to really feeling alive. It was as though my life had been completely pointless until that moment. I was forgetting things that even I would normally remember. What was my name, who was it I was looking for, why was I ever wasting my time on those insects I had fought before? All that mattered was the girl in front of me and the feeling of her strong hands holding mine as we tried to overpower each other.

"It's no use!" She screamed at me.

"Yeah! I know...!" I yelled back with a grin on my face as I slammed my head into hers. She stumbled backwards, her forehead bleeding. Blood dripped down to the floor as she held her face. She glared at me with her cold, piercing eyes that were so very much like my own. I couldn't help but smirk even as the blood from my cheek poured down my face.

I no longer cared if I was winning or losing, all that mattered was that I release all of my pent up strength on her. All that mattered was that I hurt her. She ran at me and used both of her legs to kick me in the stomach, sending me flying across the room and into the wall. Blood spilled from my mouth and she jumped off of me only to kick me farther into the wall. She flipped backwards using my stomach as her own personal springboard, her laughter infuriating me more than the kick had. I gritted me teeth until the felt like they would crush as I peeled myself from the wall. As we were both falling to the ground, I used my feet to spring myself off of the wall, much like she had done to me. I launched myself at her and fell into the floor on top of her. As soon as she hit the ground I raised my fist to smash it into her face only to change my mind a split second later. My fist landed painfully into the ground, shattering the floor around us.

We remained still for a moment before she looked up at me. Her red eyes were wide with fear. My left fist was still raised high in the air and my right was still planted in the ground. It was like I was frozen in time. I couldn't move. I couldn't take my eye's off of her, I could feel her body trembling under mine. Meg would have cried. Meg cried a lot. Not her though. She did not cry, even though I could tell she wanted to. Secretly, I felt like crying too.

Suddenly I no longer wanted to fight her. I could remember everything clearly as though someone had chased away the fog that seemed to appear in my mind when we started fighting. Slowly my body seemed to move away from her. She stayed like that for a moment, shaking as though she were still beneath me. I crouched down facing the crater in the wall were I had just been, trying to get the image if her frightened expression out of my mind. She was like an entirely different person. I felt like a villain who had just beat the hell out of a child even though I was the one who took the most damage. Something about her expression, the fear in her eyes, haunted me to no end. I had never felt like that before, I had never shown mercy before.

I could hear her slowly rise from the cracked floor. Suddenly I was mad at her. Why had she reacted that way? What the hell happened to the weapon I was just beating the shit out of?!

"What's happened to me?" She asked as though reading my mind.

How the hell was I supposed to know?

"I don't know why... but I don't want to fight you anymore..." She said with wonderment as though nothing in this world could have been more confusing to her. Then it hit me. I was no genius, very far from it, but it sure as hell didn't take one to see how scared she was just now. Why would she want to fight someone she was terrified of? This revaluation I kept to myself.

"Same here...I'm at my limit..." I confessed to her as I stood up with as much dignity as I could muster in my condition.

"Wait! Why are you stopping?!"

My body trembled a little as I tried to remain on my feet, my teeth again feeling like they were going to be crushed by how hard they were pressed together. I turned to face her and stated the first and most obvious reason. "Because you don't want to fight..." I mean hadn't she just said she didn't want to fight anymore?

"This doesn't make sense..." She informed me as though I didn't already know, "I can't comprehend why I don't want to fight..."

Suddenly it dawned on me, she had never felt fear before. We were never meant to feel fear. We were weapons. But if that was true, then how would they explain what I felt every time Meg was in danger, every time I thought I would never see her again..? And now, she was feeling it as well. Her fear, however, was of me, of losing, of dieing...

"I have never felt this before...!" She said as she stared at her shaking hand then back up at me. "What do I do...?!" She asked me as though I knew all the answers. I said the first thing that popped into my head.

"Live on... and find the answer...!" The last thing I saw was her pale jaw drop. She stared at me as though I had said something strange...Had I?

I watched her fall as though in slow motion. The sound of her hitting the ground echoed in my mind, lingering even after she had already been laying there. "Jo!" I ran towards her without a single thought in my fucked up head. Why should I be running to the aid of my enemy?! I should be taking this chance to rip her apart like I have been dreaming of since the test! I should be throwing her dead body at the stupid girl and laughing my ass off as she screams! So why the hell am I trying to help her?!

Her words kept playing themselves over and over in my mind. I realized then that I didn't want to die. The thought of it made that feeling grab at my chest. I didn't want her to die either. I suddenly wanted her to protect me like she did Meg. I wanted to be the one who she fought for, I wanted to be the one to believe in her.

The thought of running up to the deck and killing just Meg crossed my mind but I quickly dismissed the idea. Jo would hate me if I hurt her... She might even kill me for it. Again, that feeling rose in me. It felt like something grabbed at my heart like it was trying to pull it out. It beat so hard in it's grasp it hurt. My body started shaking again and sweat poured from my skin. I frantically grabbed on to Jo as though the unconscious woman would save me. Somehow, holding the stronger woman did make me feel better even if it was only a little. She was warm. I pressed my self into her and felt her hair rub against my cheek. I felt in that moment that Jo could do anything. She was the greatest person alive.

Oh, God, I'm turning into Meg!!!

I literally screamed at the idea and decided I should probably stop sitting here holding my fallen enemy and turning into the stupid girl. I was going to go insane if I kept that up!

The vice like grip that had been holding my body loosened somewhat. I couldn't get my eyes to open. All I could do was lay there and feel the pain come over me like waves. It would stop for a few moments, only to come back even stronger a few seconds later. When I felt my body being lifted from the ground, the pain shot through me even more. I thought that if there was ever truly a hell, this was it.

She was heavier than I thought. Or maybe I was weaker than I thought. My shoulder was beginning to get sore as I carried her to the deck, the sun was blinding as I stepped out. It was a relief to know I wouldn't have to carry her much farther.

I stopped as Meg came into my view. She was sitting on the ground only a few feet away from where I had left her. Her blue eyes were already tearing up as she gazed at the unconscious women who was slung over my shoulder. She looked as though she couldn't believe what was happening.

"Jo...lost?!" She seemed to ask herself more than me as I walked closer to her. "T-that's not possible...!"

She raised to her knees as I got close enough and set Jo down if front of her then backed up to give them some space. She knelled down close to her. "Jo! Come on, now!" She shouted trying to wake her. She held her head close and kept shouting at her. "Don't die, Jo! Say something!"

"Jo isn't dead." I informed her as gently as possible.

"Damn you...!" She looked up at me and shouted, "How could you...! Give her back!"

"It's all right, Meg. She used too much energy fighting me. But don't worry. Her neuro-program reset has began." I kept my voice as calm as possible and tried to keep my face neutral. I didn't want her to know that it hurt to watch them. I wanted to be the one holding Jo and screaming, I didn't want to be the one who hurt her.

Meg's face softened as she looked at me. "I thought you were Jo's enemy...?"

"Not anymore," I told her with a small smile spreading across my face, "I want Jo to live. Because I like her."

Now she looked even more lost. "Huh...?"

My words were lost as a roar came across the ship. I turned around only to see a small flying Cy-bot behind me. "Maria! Obey your orders and under go reprogramming!" It shouted at me with a voice I knew all to well, "Continue to ignore them and you will be disposed of! Respond! Maria!"

My fist clench tightly as the anger inside of me rose. There was nothing wrong with me! "No! I won't be reprogrammed!" I mean sure, I might be feeling and behaving a little strange but I certainly didn't need that! I was perfectly normal!

"By saying that, you've asked to be executed!" He told me in a calm and commanding voice. "Do it!"

I wasn't sure what he meant until I saw one of the storage unit doors being dented from the inside. Red blades of a Cy-bot tore through the metal door. Meg and I watched in horror as two of them came through the storage then, as if things couldn't get worse, we turned to see two others coming up over the wall behind us. More came from seemingly now where, completely surrounding us. Three of them grabbed my own Cy-bot and pulled him away before I could jump in. They tore him apart and let the pieces fall to the ground. I clenched my jaw tightly and tried to stop myself from crying in anger. They had destroyed quite possibly the closet thing I had ever had to a friend in a matter of seconds! He lay there before me, lifeless like stone.

"Meg! Take Jo and jump into the ocean! Hurry!" I commanded her and did not wait for her response as I jumped into action. I may not have been able to save my Cy-bot, but I could still save Jo! And the stupid girl...

I punched one of the Cy-bots that destroyed mine hard and watched with a twisted satisfaction as it cracked. My moment was ruined when they all surrounded me and fired. I had never felt such pain before in my life, but I would trade all I had left to feel it again. Feeling that excruciating pain was far better than feeling nothing at all... Because only the dead felt nothing.