SETTLE FOR NOTHING
--Rage Against The Machine
_

{A jail cell is freedom from the pain in my home}

He sits in the darkness, waiting...

Tries to count the minutes but even time slips through his fingers...

So he waits.

He tightens his grip on the controls. Rendevous point was a half hour ago...what the hell was going on?

...His comrades...where had the gone?

Zero-one and zero-four. Numbers but no names.

But of course...they were all nameless soldiers once the battle beings.

Nameless, faceless....capable only of killing.

Capable only of death.

_

{Hatred passed on, passed on and passed on}
_

"So," Alex asked curiously. "What did you end up naming him?"

Scott Kaelen brushed a strand of his chestnut hair behind his ear and looked at his co-worker. He stood proudly.

"Kara decided on the name Damon...well, sort of."

"Damon?" Alex repeated. "That's cool! ...What do you mean, 'sort of'?"

"Er..." Scott smiled warily, "I actually think she was screaming 'damn!'...but that's what the doctor wrote on his birth certificate, so his name is Damon."

Alex broke into loud, friendly laughter and slapped Scott on the back. "You must be real proud."

"Totally." Scott nodded, thinking of his bright-eyed son. "He's got Kara's eyes. He'll be a prettyboy when he grows up."
_

{A world full of rage}
_

Duo looked up to the sky. YES! Heero and Quatre were on their way! He could see Wing tearing through the sky, leaving the sky shimmering in its wake.

"About time!" Duo shouted angrily. "Oz's troops will be here any minute!"

"They're already here, Duo!" Heero shouted over the Comm Link. "They're following us. There are too many, Duo. Go back!!"

NO! His mind screamed. He'd spent way too much time wallowing in the darkness of Deathscythe's cockpit and in half-baked memories of people dying before his eyes. There's no way he's backing down now!!

"No!" He shouted defiantly. "I'll stay!!"

{But it's one that I recognize}

"Duo! Are you crazy??" Quatre screamed. "Alone? You can't!! We can't! Sandrock is low on fuel...I /have/ to go!"

"The Wing is in bad shape, too." Heero added. "We have to leave!"

"Go if you want." Duo said acidly, grinning. "But I /am/ staying."

{Having never seen the color of my father's eyes...}

"Duo..." Heero growled.

"God damnit, if you're gonna leave-- go!! You're wasting your fuel and my time by standing around doing nothing!" Duo shouted. He grinned again. "And if it's as bad as you say, come back for my body later and bury me."

"You won't have one left to bury." Heero said icily. "But it's your choice."

The Wing flew off, but Sandrock remained.

"Quatre..." Duo urged.

"Take care, Duo." Quatre's voice trembled. "Allah, you know I'd stay...I can't." He whispered. Duo shrugged it off.

"Just go, Quatre." He said. Quatre nodded and hit the controls, leaving Duo in the darkness to wait.

The darkness of his past.

The darkness of his soul.
_

{Yes, I dwell in Hell, but it's a Hell that I can grip}
_

Her husband came in, slamming the door.

"Scott?" She called. "What's wrong?"

There was a hesitant pause, and Kara came into the living room, holding their son. Scott sat on the couch, staring furiously into space. As she entered, he focused on her.

"It's the God Damned Federation." He hissed. "It's like they don't notice L2 at all!! The colony has zero budget to help itself, the population is helpless and much too big....there are literally thousands of orphans on the streets-- result of their damn battles. But do they help? Do they atone for their sins?" His voice shot angrily, enraged. "No...and they won't until this Colony crashes to Hell."

"Scott," Kara breathed, slowly easing herself into the chair opposite him. Her eyes were wide with her mixed emotions of anger, sorrow, and surprise. "Is it that bad?"

"No, Kara..." Scott continued softly. "It's worse."
_

{I tried to grip my family, but I slipped}
_

He saw Oz's troops approaching at top speed.

He swore loudly. Heero and Quatre were right...he'd fought hundreds of suits at the same time before...but nothing like this...

Oz carriers glitteres in the sky like stars. Thousands...each carrier with ten mobile suits at least.

He continued smiling.

Well, if this was the path he'd chosen, he'd walk it.

Fate was fate.

Death was death.

He'd signed his own death certificate the moment he'd taken Deathsycthe and claimed his name.

The God of Death he was.

The God of Death he'd stay...

For now and all time...

{To escape the pain in an existance mundane}