Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Falls the Shadow ❯ Chapter Six ( Chapter 6 )

C H A P T E R 6

"Hey there, hot stuff, wanna ride my pony?" The man, obviously drunk, leered at Diana, his eyes wandering towards places where she didn't want him looking. A gesture towards his crotch confirmed Diana's disgust, and she pushed him away while muttering some form of the word `no.' The drunkard, undeterred, simply moved in again and licked her sleeve, drenching it with his saliva. "Well we better get you out of those wet clothes…" *

This time, she shoved him back full force. "I said stay back, sicko!!" The unwanted suitor fell backwards over a poorly placed coffee table, alerting the entire hotel lobby. Most merely made a few comments or snickered before going back to his or her business, but one young man in particular was bothered by the incident.

He walked over to Diana and grabbed her arm, waving an apology to the mad she'd just attacked. "Don't mind my friend here; she'd just a bit jumpy." That said, he dragged her to a corner down the hall and stared her down with a pair of violet eyes. "Do you enjoy making a scene? We're supposed to be here incognito."

`We?' Diana noticed a long brown braid trailing behind the young man; Trowa had given that as a distinguishing feature. "So you're Duo Maxwell, then?"

Duo brightened at the recognition. "The one and only. I may run and hide, but I'll never tell a lie." He held out his hand. "Nice to meet you."

Diana put her bag down and shook. "Diana Simen. I lie a lot."

He smiled, deciding he liked her dry sense of humor, and hoisted Diana's bag over his shoulder. "Come on. Quatre's waiting upstairs."

"I can carry my own stuff, you know."

"Yeah, but I got it."

Diana figured that it would be best not to make another scene, so she didn't say anything more of the issue. Instead, she followed Duo up three flights of stairs and into a room.

Behind them, at a distance, the man who had ogled over Diana spoke softly into a communicator, far less drunk than he had pretended to be.

"I've found Leine. She's with Wodahs and a certain `Duo Maxwell'…"

* * * * * * * * * *

Trowa sat and waited.

Technically, he was a prisoner. Upon his return to the order, the Sulegna rounded him up and accused him of treason. Trowa couldn't argue the charges; he had acted against the order. After a formal accusation ceremony, which consisted of black-robed men chanting ancient curses in a dead language Trowa didn't recognize, a guard took him to a bare room and instructed him to await judgment. That had been an hour ago, and since then Trowa had sat down on the only furniture in the room and scanned for an escape route.

He would use it when the time came for escape.

The door opened, and Trowa looked up to see the guard standing in the doorway. The large man cleared his throat before speaking. "The lord Kaivér wishes to hand down your judgment personally. He shall come this way in a few minutes." He paused uneasily, then added, "I will not blame you if you are dead the next time I open this door." The guard left Trowa alone again.

Trowa knew two things about the Kaivér. He was the head of the Sulegna, serving in place of Wodahs, and the majority of the Sulegna had never seen the man in person. Apparently, judging from the guard's reaction, the order feared him as well. Trowa figured he'd might as well stay long enough to meet the enigmatic Kaivér and learn anything he could about him. Afterward, he's escape and forward the information to Duo.

The door opened again, and the guard peeked inside. "Oh, you're still alive. Braver than most, I guess. Either that, or you're still too new to understand what you're in for." He took a grand pause, causing Trowa to wonder if, in fact, the guard was actually encouraging him to commit suicide. Trowa made no move, so the guard continued. "Your choice. He's here." The guard's head disappeared from the doorway, and was soon replaced by a small silhouette.

"Is this him?" a voice asked.

"Yes, it is," the guard answered.

"… Leave me alone with him."

"Yes, milord." The door closed and a light flickered on, allowing Trowa to see the Kaivér in all his glory.

That is, all the glory a fifteen-year-old could carry.

The boy circled Trowa and examined every inch with dark brown eyes, brushing wisps of blond hair out of his face from time to time. Trowa noted a familiarity in the Kaivér's features, and the Kaivér seemed to recognize something in Trowa.

Trowa to look at his captor. "You're…"

"Before you say anything, I would like to remind you that you were fifteen once." The Kaivér gave Trowa another once-over before commenting, "The resemblance is remarkable. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?"

"What is that supposed to-?" Trowa tried to stand, and found himself unable. Heavy straps pinned his wrists, ankles, and waist to the chair. "How did you-?"

"Even you can be surprised. Amazing, considering your personality." The Kaivér walked over to the wall and leaned on it casually. "I'm well-trained in the Dark Arts, and, as any proper Sulegna should, am a master of silence and anonymity; better than even you, No Name." He watched Trowa's defenses rise, amused. "How did I know, right? I know more about you than you'd care for me to know, perhaps even more than you know yourself." The Kaivér left his post on the wall and began circling Trowa again, slowly. "I know about your parents, your childhood, Midii…" He stopped behind Trowa and looked down at him. "What was that she gave you, a cross?"

"How did you learn this?" Trowa growled, otherwise powerless.

"I even know of your growing affections for the one who would be Leine… just like it happened before."

That caught Trowa off-guard.

A tense moment of silence followed, broken suddenly by a biting pain in Trowa' left shoulder. "There. You're marked," the Kaivér spat out curtly. He quickly advanced to Trowa's front and grabbed the former pilot's head, placing his fingers along the temples. "You've had a lapse of mind before, which makes my job easier."

Before Trowa had any time to react, a sharp shock ran through his mind, and he slumped over, unconscious.

* Sadly, I failed to dream this little pick up line myself. Muchos kudos to A.G. and Coolsig, the source of some of the worst pick up lines out there. ^.^