Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Survival ❯ Aftereffects ( Chapter 28 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Aftereffects

Here we go again… Hopefully nobody has a breakdown this chapter.

September 1st 197 - Friday - Undetermined

“Rise and shine, Princess.”

Relena opened her eyes to half glare at Jake; he was sitting on the edge of her bed, looking far too pleased with himself. “Where's the canary?” she asked, grimacing slightly as she sat up. Her right arm was in a sling, but that didn't entirely stop the bruised tissue from complaining.

The blonde man laughed a delightedly, and something fell from his upraised hand… and began to swing like a pendulum. Relena blinked a few times, reaching up with her free hand to rub to sleep out of her eyes. “What?” she asked groggily.

“It's shiny,” he returned, still with that broad grin.

Grumbling slightly, she reached out and caught the thing, focusing on the… pendant. It was a necklace, she realized, with a little square pendant, with a tiny little aquamarine embedded in one corner and fancy cursive writing scrolling across it.

“`The best way to predict the future is to invent it. - Alan Kay'” she read aloud, smiling. It was simple, but beautiful. “It's lovely,” she breathed, running her thumb over the inscription, and flipping it over to see there was a stylized phoenix etched onto the back. The metal was pale and bright… “Thank-you, it suits perfectly… Where did you get it?”

Jake laughed again, letting go of the chain. “I should think it obvious that it's special made… And for the record, it has a completely faultless transponder in it, and the metal is gundanium, so there isn't a chance in hell it'll ever break.” He leaned back, looking even more proud of himself. “And it only looks like a bit of sentimental pretty, so no one should think to get rid of it if you manage to get yourself kidnapped eventually, so we'll have a clear beacon to find you if the worst even tries to happen.”

Some part of her wanted to huff in annoyance at that part, but it was so beautiful… it was only better that it was practical too. “Gundanium?” she asked instead, not looking away from her gift. The metal was brighter than platinum, and left unpainted, but had a brushed sort of look… Gundanium… Her heart twisted itself in a knot. Heero… Wherever you are, are you safe now? Duo, Quatre, Trowa? Wufei? She held the pendant tight in one fist, closing her eyes against tears.

“It's kept you safe before,” her bodyguard returned quietly, reaching forward and wrapping a hand gently around her fist. “I thought you'd appreciate the gesture.”

“I do,” she assured him quickly, looking up at him and smiling even though the tears fell. Opening her hand, she bit at her lip slightly. “Can you help me put it on?”

“Of course.” He took it back from her and opened the clasp. “The chain is platinum… it was hard enough finding someone who could do such fine detail-work on gundanium that I wasn't going to push my luck for a chain. The beacon is heavily encoded, so you don't need to worry about the wrong people picking it up, and I can reprogram the chip if the security is broken, even though I can't exactly access it directly.” Fastening it around her neck, he noted, “I don't imagine I need to tell you never to take it off? Wear it under your clothes, don't show it around?”

“Naturally,” she returned in kind. “Are you also going to tell me not to leap onto the back of moving vehicles?” Milliardo had certainly had something to say about that.

“It wasn't moving when you leapt on,” he argued mildly. “Though next time, I would rather you called me and shot out the tires.”

She couldn't help but grin at that. Something had definitely changed between them after their `savior stunt,' as her brother was calling it, but she couldn't exactly put her finger on it, and she hadn't tried talking to Jake about it all in the few days since. He had been an emotional train wreck for reasons she only halfway understood at first, then he had been constantly busy managing the press coverage and keeping her brother from completely losing his head, keeping them on track with the scheduled tour despite the attention they had garnered and her impromptu trip to the hospital via ambulance… something about how if they let people fuss and make a big deal out of it, it was less likely to blow up in their faces.

In her opinion, it had still been a veritable explosion, but Jake seemed pleased with the outcome. At least, he was when he wasn't grinding his teeth listening to Milliardo lecture him over the phone.

In any case, Relena was happier than she could say that he really wasn't upset with her over the whole debacle.

“I've only shot a gun once in my life,” she reminded him. “Seeing as I missed a large target at point blank range with a small revolver, firing your gun didn't seem like a very good idea.”

He gave her an amused sort of look, undoing the velcro on her sling and gently pulling it away from her. “I never did hear what kind of gun you tried to use on Une.”

She flushed a little, letting him stretch her arm out a little experimentally. “The one in my parents' gun safe?” At his raised eyebrow, she added, “My mom kept it in her purse sometimes…”

“Ah.” He gestured for her to start her stretching exercises, and she did so, though she winced. “What most people don't realize,” he went on to explain, “Is that the majority small guns have terrible recoil… the makers just tried to compress it too much, the force has to go somewhere.” A moment later, he produced the gun she had carried a few days past, seemingly out of thin air. “This, though, is a Daewoo… and she might look like a real bad boy, but in all reality, she's sweet as a kitten.” His smile was a little sad as he ran a hand over the weapon. Looking back up at her, he added, “She's actually what I learned on.”

Shaking his head a little, he stood. “I'll get out so you can get dressed; just knock when you're done and I'll help you get back into the sling. If you baby it now, you can probably make your appearance later on this morning without the thing.”

She nodded a little, pulling back the covers and standing. “Thank-you again,” she murmured. She knew her brother must have footed the bill for the locator, but the amount of thought that her friend had put into designing the necklace was most certainly not lost on her.

Milliardo never would have had something so beautiful made for her.

Jake just gave her another of his easy grins before slipping into the adjoining room.

***

September 6th 197 - Wednesday - Amsterdam

“We should get up.”

“Mm,” Chaos returned noncommittally.

Melissa rolled her eyes, shifting so she could see his face. They were laying in their thrown together bed of blankets in the loft above the shop. The alarm had already been snoozed twice already, but as there wasn't anything currently screeching an urgent need to admit their midday nap was finished…

“We could wait for the alarm,” he suggested.

“It's gone off three times now,” his girlfriend argued.

“No, the one I have rigged to go off when a customer comes in.”

“It'll sound up here?” He made an annoyed noise into her hair, which caused her to laugh. “Right, right, sorry, my bad, I completely forgot I was working with an electronics genius…”

“My fingers have this strange feeling, like I desperately need to start tickling you…”

She squeaked and tried to roll away from him, but his arms were securely wrapped around her already. He made no move to do as he threatened, however, content to merely hold her close.

It had been almost a week since William Mehile had finished his visit and headed back to Berlin with a promise that he would make sure Duo was let be. He hadn't been able to talk the man out of reporting to Treize, but he had convinced him to make sure to report it personally, so no middleman could possibly go running with the tale. The young man who had once piloted a gundam hadn't wanted to concede even that much, but Will hadn't been willing to back down any further.

That and after the shock that the bastard was seriously still alive and kicking had sunk in, he had to admit that in the end, Khushrenada had pulled through on their side… He certainly didn't trust the man any further than he could have thrown his eight ton war machine, but while the enemy of his enemy wasn't necessarily his friend, the old head of OZ had nothing to gain from making trouble for Duo.

…And hadn't he given Heero Epyon to help keep Sanc safe? His old comrade hadn't exactly shared the details on that - no real surprise there - but he had said where he'd gotten the gundam from after sufficient pestering. Initially, he'd written it off as Heero trying to give him a random answer so he'd just give up the game, but when he talked an explanation out of the guy on why he'd traded gundams with Zechs like the things were action figures, he'd started to believe… Well, so long as his sometime friend didn't do anything inherently insane in short order, anyway. Heero was off his rocker enough that that might have been his idea of a running joke.

But then Treize had backed them against the dolls up at Libra, actually making good use of himself instead of spouting that flowery crap about battle being noble… and turned out he'd even had the old Wing gundam all fixed up to give back, and hadn't thought to use it himself when he came to fight on the excuse that it wasn't his.

That logic was about as stupid as Heero deciding that stealing the parts he needed to fix Wing off Deathscythe wasn't accepting any help from Duo. Though, considering the fact that it was all about the same machine, the irony kinda fit.

That or Mr. Perfect Soldier Yuy, master hacker extraordinaire, managed to program the damn suit to self-destruct when someone else tried hopping in the cockpit.

He made a face, burying his nose in Melissa's hair and focusing on the happy little noise she made. He didn't care about any of that anymore… so there was no reason to think about it. The only important part was that Treize was probably too obsessed with his whack `nobility' to endanger the life he'd rebuilt for himself as Chaos, and he'd leave him alone. The only thing he had to worry about anymore was remembering where he'd put his shoes if a customer did come in… and they were sitting by the stairs.

He was free to live his life, for once, and there wasn't anything that could make him give it up.

Melissa sighed a little. “We should really get up.”

“Mm.”

***

Undetermined

Adam grinned a little to himself, once again finding himself in a crowd of people watching the princess.

There really is something about her, isn't there?

She had moved across the European continent spreading hope like it was something easy to come by… and her very active efforts to save a handful of children last week had only made more people love her. If he hadn't seen some of the sheer chaos of the process himself in his own pilgrimage following the young woman, he would have thought it was orchestrated to help her public image, it was so successful. She really might be the key to all this… He had thought what information he could skim out of the Peacecraft Regime and Treize's databanks was too optimistic with that idea, but Relena Darlian-Peacecraft was overshooting those predictions… and she had only re-entered the political scene less than six months ago.

He wondered how many factions would be moving to have her on their side now… and exactly how much persuasion would be necessary to move her away from her brother.

The involvement of the R.L. Tomorrow Today Fund intrigued him too. The proprietor made rare end exclusive offers, seemingly at random. Lengthy rebuilding after the coup was finished in L3-X18999 fit in with the almost simultaneous efforts to rebuild and increase the economy in a number of other colonies, and even a city or two on Earth. The building of Peacemillion as a sort of lifeboat asylum fit the rebuilding efforts, and then there were a mess of donations to the colonial foster care systems. It almost seemed as though the proprietor was making a concerted effort to clean up after specific acts of violence that led to increases in poverty.

It was hardly the only fund dedicated to such things. That wasn't what bothered him, really. There were three factors that piqued his curiosity, when it came to RLTT.

First, it didn't receive petitions for aid, or if it did, it didn't do so very often. This meant that it was the manager of the actual fund selecting projects, which suggested either an ulterior motive, or a peculiar sense of right and wrong, considering how choosy it was. Something had to catch the owner's interest, it would appear… which meant that there was very likely a running commonality between most, if not all, of the projects it had funded since its creation in 188. In particular, the first project it endorsed was the rebuilding on L3-X18999 after an attempted coup and General Catalonia sent in the Specials, led by Treize Khushrenada, to help suppress it. Treize had been hospitalized after taking a hit to save one of his cadets, one `Lucrezia Noin.'

Other than this event possibly being the motivator behind the creation of the fund, was part of the second reason the Fund intrigued him; the selected candidate, who was none other than Leia Barton, the daughter of the head of the Barton Foundation. Curiously enough, she had been working as a volunteer in the hospital where the then `Instructor' Khushrenada had been sent for his injuries.

Leia Barton was the first candidate for RLTT… though a little over a year later the woman mysteriously disappeared, presumably deliberately and with a name change, due to the lack of investigation for a missing person.

The third reason was that while he had free access to the Peacecraft Regime's data network through the backdoor a spy within their ranks must be using, and with a little work he could get almost anywhere else, the electronic security surrounding all things to do with Princess Relena Peacecraft, the most recent candidate, was absolutely flawless.

RLTT was protecting its own interests thoroughly.

The candidates, however… a few names caught attention, even while others came from seemingly nowhere. Leia Barton, Lucrezia Noin, Howard Oclaire, Relena Darlian-Peacecraft… There was something important there, but he couldn't figure out exactly what. He was convinced there was a pattern, but he couldn't seem to divine it.

What does the R.L. stand for?

“I think we've met before.”

Adam tilted his head to look at the man standing behind him, and suppressed the urge to lash out. The man's dark hair was cut short, and his dark brown eyes were easygoing, his features settled into an amused expression. He was shorter than Adam, but only had him by a few inches. He was dressed commonly, and didn't stand out in the crowd…

…but he was part of Relena Peacecraft's bodyguard contingent.

He frowned as though trying to remember. “Have we?” They were packed into a crowd… it would be impossible to get into a fight without injuring countless bystanders, and even more impossible to get away.

Shit. He knew should have kept back to the shadows, but the risk had seemed minimal.

“I think it was through a friend,” the bodyguard whose name I didn't know went on easily. “Guy named Ivan Alekseev?”

Adam frowned. Ivan Alekseev? It sounded familiar… Wasn't that the leader of Chang's manhunt? Treize's mole that he had playing in both fields, the one whose attic he'd left the laptop in…

Ah. Treize's.

“I think I remember him.” This could be interesting… “His wife's name is Kristine? Three kids?” He smiled pleasantly as the spy narrowed his eyes. “Sorry, I hadn't realized he was a friend of yours.”

He looked aggravated, but he merely returned, “Yeah, it's Michael, remember? I'd have sworn I saw you back in July, when Tate was having that issue with his girl's old man, but you ducked out of there so fast I wasn't sure.”

Adam remembered getting hit with the lights of a ship right after Mariemaia launched without him… and in retrospect, that was probably what half of this was all about, at least. “Oh, that was you? Sorry, I was distracted; this runaway had just stolen my ride.” He made sure to visibly grimace. “It sucked, I found my bike later, but the kid was gone, and believe me, I looked everywhere I could think of.”

`Michael' studied him for a moment, probably trying to decide if he was telling the truth or not, before sighing. “That had to be annoying.”

“You're telling me,” Adam returned, rolling his eyes for the theatrics. “I was really just trying to lend a hand.” He called Treize Tate? “That whole bit with Tate's in-laws looked like an accident waiting to happen, you know?”

Michael made a face. “Yeah, I guess it was.” He gestured toward the stage. “What're you doing this far west, though?”

Adam shrugged. “Just satisfying my curiosity, going where the wind takes me.” He tilted his head to one side, considering the princess. “She really is something, isn't she?”

He smirked. “That she is. I don't suppose there's any way I can keep in touch with you?”

Adam considered. This conversation was already going to get to Treize, and he wasn't against communicating them, for all that he didn't entirely trust the organization the ex-general led now. If they had wanted to catch him, all they would have needed to do was have `Michael' haul him off for arrest and never file the paperwork… provided the man had backup, of course. Just because Treize had one mole in Relena's guard didn't mean they were all loyal to him.

There was no particular reason to turn the offer down, and quite a few possible advantages for opening up a line of communication. If it started to go sour, it wasn't like they would be able to track him down.

“I don't have a phone,” he said by way of answer, “but I guess we could trade emails. You have a piece of paper?”

***

Unknown

“A kitten.”

Odin blinked. “We can't travel with a cat.”

Marlé scowled up at him. “Yes we could.”

“No, it would get lost.” He squinted, spotting a stand where they could buy lunch.

“I wouldn't lose it.”

Starting to walk in that direction, he frowned. “Why do you want a kitten?”

The look she gave him suggested that she clearly thought him simple. “Because it's a kitten.” Making a frustrated noise at his blank stare, she argued, “All girls love cats!”

Odin frowned again. He had hardly ever seen any evidence to suggest there was any truth to this fact. “We can't travel with a cat, it would get lost.”

She let out a longsuffering sort of sigh, following him up to the stand. “Okay, fine, but it was worth a shot.”

He blinked at that, glancing sideways. Sometimes he didn't understand Marie, and he had immediately thought it was one of those moments, not that she had been seeing how far she could push him. It was just as well, he supposed. He gestured at the menu, and she ordered them both hot dogs. Once they had paid and applied more condiments than he supposed were strictly necessary, the debate picked back up.

It was a simple question, really. “What do you want for your birthday?”

She looked up at him with a far more shrewd expression as they sat on a bench. “What can I have?”

Odin frowned again; he wasn't sure exactly what she was about… but the question was fair enough. “Something other than a pet.” That idea was just ridiculous.

This time, she frowned. “I don't know,” she admitted.

He sighed. First she asked for a present, which seemed reasonable enough, all traditions considered, and now she didn't know what she wanted? He had assumed that, in asking, she had already had something in mind.

…Other than a cat, at least. “Why do you want a kitten?” he found himself asking again.

“I've always wanted a kitten,” she informed him easily, taking a bite of her hot dog.

His frown deepened. “But why?” He could understand dogs, after a fashion… you could train them, make them come with you, and their loyalty never faltered; a dog was a companion. He might have actually considered the possibility, had she said she wanted a puppy. “What do cats do?”

She gave him an incredulous look. “They cuddle.”

…That was even more confusing. Cuddle? He knew her coat was warm enough… “Why do you want to cuddle something?”

Her eyes narrowed, though he wasn't entirely sure why… then they widened in realization and maybe something else. “You never had a stuffed animal you cuddled when you were little?”

He could feel his frown deepening again. “You want a stuffed animal?”

“No,” she negated emphatically. She just looked concerned now. “Odin… Didn't anyone cuddle you when you were growing up?”

The conclusion she'd come to took him aback… and after a moment's disbelief, he scooted closer so their legs touched, held his food in his left hand, and rested his right across her shoulders, lightly holding her against him. A moment later, she rested her weight against him in a sort of little sigh.

“Does this count?” he asked after a moment.

“Yeah,” she mumbled quietly.

“Odin would sit with me,” he explained, trying to find the words for what he meant. “Like this, or just near each other, and it counted the same, even if we weren't touching. Some nights when I was younger, he'd hold me while I slept, and since it never seemed strange, he must have raised me that way… but it was the same if I was in bed and he was still up reading.” He bit his lip. “I don't understand how you could have that with an animal.”

She sighed again, sounding tired. “We're not talking about the same thing, Odin… But that's okay.” She looked up at him, smiling. “Your version's better anyway.”

***

September 7th 197 - Thursday - Prague

Hilde smiled as she explained the basics of the plan to a few of the Sweeper boys; the attitude of one of the ones closer to her age reminded her of Duo. He was the most tech-savvy of his little group, but the others were largely just wary of him, even as they handed him the more difficult work. She supposed they were worried about setting him off, as he more than held his own in a fight and certainly wasn't scrawny, like Duo had been, so he couldn't quite pull off the innocent aura… But it was funny, really, because Nate was innocent, where Duo hadn't ever been…

And Chaos wasn't scrawny anymore, but he could still manage the harmless act, she'd put money on it.

It was easier to think of it almost as if he were two people, despite how she'd given him crap for it… and in a lot of ways, she supposed that it was true. She had recognized him of course, but he'd been so different at the same time, in Amsterdam… at ease in a way she hadn't realized he could be. He'd been so confident that what she remembered of the fearless, easygoing gundam pilot seemed shy and unsure. At first she'd thought he had merely grown as she had grown, but that dream had been shattered when he broke down in that fight. He was still hurting, and she'd wanted to help him, heal him, more than anything… but she couldn't.

The Devils were doing that.

And so she'd left him in their care, to continue as their beloved Kay… and continued with her own life.

It had hurt, at first, more than anything… but now, even the idea that she might never see him again was merely wistful, not sad. If he was happy… she could win this war for him and give him somewhere safe to live. If they won, he wouldn't have to hide, and she could see him without threatening everything he cared about. It had hurt, so bad, when she realized that they were more important to him than she was… at least, it had until she realized that she cared more about beating the Regime more than staying with him.

She remembered how, growing up, she had never understood why her mother emphasized that school, her career, making her own way in life, mattered more than any boy could… after all, why would she want to give up anything she worked for for a boy? She remembered realizing that she'd do anything for Duo, anything at all, even if it killed her… though she supposed it helped that he really was working for the good guys, and helping him was helping the cause. There hadn't been any need to draw that line. And now… now that there was good reason, because he wasn't on anybody's side anymore… she had realized why her mother had worked so hard to make her believe those words. For a second, she had thought about it, wondered if maybe she could just disappear, and stay with him…

…and realized that she would never be happy merely being any man's pet.

Not that it would be like that if it was with Duo… but she had the world in the palm of her hand, and she wasn't about to give up the freedom that Duo had taught her she ought to yearn for, that she had learned to grasp with two hands and wrest away from anyone who dared try to cage her. Maybe if Duo had come back with her, it could have worked, fighting side by side, but this was her life now… and anyone who might be worth her time could come to her. If they couldn't live by those terms, than she'd run them down as surely as she regularly did Xutao. Duo had taught her that a man ought to hold to his words, not just say them and fall by the wayside; even when he'd failed before, Duo always came out of it with his head held high. Well, maybe not literally, she admitted with a mental grimace, but he had never been willing to submit to defeat.

There was more than one reason Xu had been dropped out of the L5 gundam program in favor of Wufei. Guy acts like a snot-nosed kid… Her impression of Wufei had been fuzzy at best and not very good in general, but having gotten to know Xu had her convinced that the guy deserved his pilot status. She rolled her eyes. Wherever he is, at any rate… She wasn't that pissed that he couldn't bother himself to lend a hand, however, as part of her really did worry that he was just like her worthless partner. She smirked a little, remembering Sally's finishing comment on one of her more recent `getting along with people' lectures. `Chang is not useless, even if he makes good target practice.'

Of course, that had also been a dig at her… but those kinds of digs only worked if you were sorry about what you'd done. Besides, she hadn't done any permanent damage… just gave him a few splotches of color to show off for the next couple weeks. The Chinese asshole was more than welcome to return the favor, if he felt so inclined… It was hardly her fault if he couldn't quite pull the maneuver off.

Not that she could beat his fancy footwork; the bastard was a literal killer when it came to hand-to-hand. No, what he needed to work on was his stealth, because if he couldn't find and/or catch her, he didn't deserve any vindication. The game was mean, but it kept her on her toes and honed her senses for the next time she was out in the field… and in all fairness, she had thought he'd be a bit better at it than he was. The general had been more bemused than annoyed when hearing of the set-up Hilde proposed for herself, and only imposed the rather reasonable rules of no damage to the facility or personnel… though `damage to personnel' merely meant `don't do anything that will require the attention of a medical professional.'

That and she had to carry and answer her phone at all times while on base; hiding from the people giving the orders was a bad idea.

She finished off her rough explanation, noting when the official briefing would probably be, before making her excuses; she had agreed to meet up with her favorite teacher in fifteen minutes, and she wanted a little time to warm up so she could make less of a fool of herself.

***

Treize's hidden compound

Treize sighed, rubbing his eyes as he took a brief break from the paperwork that had begun to pile up in his absence.

Being free for almost two weeks had its pros and cons. The upside had, of course, been the freedom to move as he pleased, and fly as much as he wanted, making sure his skills didn't become too rusty. It was a release he hadn't realized he had needed so badly, and had done wonders for his mounting aggravation.

However, there were far more problems to deal with. Easily fixed, but it was disappointing when he realized that Dekim had raided the majority of Vulkanus already and not brought more resources for the plant to work through, the fool. It had been disheartening to find that the over three hundred dolls he had been expecting was in fact only the handful he had managed to capture from Dekim's base. Also alarming was the fact that Marquise had doubtless confiscated what Dekim's men had had to leave behind, which meant he might have a clue to Treize's new MS source cite.

He needed to see what damage control he could work through his men inside his onetime comrade's confidence… It wasn't dangerous so long as Zechs had no reason to suspect, and he wouldn't for some time, but the safest bet would be to have a few pieces of evidence removed or destroyed while laying clear blame to an obvious party that couldn't take the fall, such as Po's organized group of rebels.

Treize seriously regretted losing track of Chang Xutao… With a few exceptions, Dr. Po's organization was running like a well-oiled machine, and not capturing the man meant he still didn't have any ins through which to establish a means of communication with the group. While he was actually rather pleased that it was so difficult, as it meant they would make a formidable ally, the situation was getting incredibly frustrating.

And there was still no news of Mariemaia… he had scanned through all his reports for anything that might pertain to his little girl before beginning to go through what he had missed in a more systematic manner. He was beginning to lose hope, on that front. The deep ache in his chest had never completely faded when he lost touch with Leia the first time, but his hopes had risen so high when he had thought he had found Marie, because surely she had some idea where her mother was, and it would all be easy sailing from there, and these days spent cooped up in a mountain could be spent coming to know the family he'd long been denied. Now all his hopes were being ground painfully into the ground again, and it was harder and harder to concentrate…

One clue… One clue, and I would travel to the ends of the universe searching…

A chirp from his computer brought him out of his brood, and he frowned tiredly at the notice that something new had come in from Váli. It wasn't the usual update time… which meant he had stumbled on something important that he thought needed to be passed along right away.

That was good news… Váli had managed to forward something to him even while at Vulkanus - Treize was still a little unclear as to exactly how he had managed this, though he had long learned that his old friend would have already destroyed the evidence, and attempting to work out the how was pointless. For such lengths Váli had gone to for the delivery, the strange part had been how little information had been given… In fact, the man had been remarkably subdued and almost… closed-mouthed. Treize had supposed that maybe he was upset at a lack of flowing information himself, given the current situation, then remembered the time of year and dismissed it as Váli's usual August depression, but it worried him just the same.

He immediately opened the message and started the decrypting process, ruthlessly suppressing the rising hope for good news. He had just spent over a week arranging for a few lesser known bits of the asteroid belt to be harvested by Vulkanus, which was all too fine of a reminder of how wrong his interpretations could be… He was months behind where he had thought he would be, though he supposed news of Relena's wildfire popularity and support had assuaged that particular fear somewhat. He was still unsure if she could be immediately trusted, but the signs were promising so far, and she was gaining influence fast…

He was so concentrated on feeling pessimistic, then, that as the message came clear and he started to read, he was utterly delighted at the news, minimal though it was. It laid down the foundations not only of a possible search for Marie, but a new connection he couldn't have hoped for… and confirmed another suspicion.

“Your Excellency?”

Treize beamed at his second. “Yes?”

Okay, so this chapter was shorter, but it's still a pretty solid 10 and some pages after you take out the author's notes, and the last one was 24…

So… no thoughts on the Treize RLTT thing? Or just RLTT in general, as more comes to light in this chapter? Or any of the other connections starting to be drawn up? Had anyone thought Wufei might be in China, or was that just out of left field?

On a side note, the majority of you suck at this whole feedback thing. *put upon sigh* That aside, thanks just the same for reading…

I know this chapter's slow, it's largely just a time in between for some character development and dropping info that I swear is somewhat relevant… but there's at least some definitive action next chapter; I know I'm rather looking forward to it, at any rate.

See you next time! Make my day and review?