Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Survival ❯ Spiral ( Chapter 33 )

Spiral

 

Here we go… *bounces* Bet you none of you are anywhere near as excited about this coming to a close as me.

 

Sorry about how long this has been coming; first everything was crazy with school and work and my mom's health going to utter shit so she needs constant help with life in general and my sister in particular (She's only six years old and kinda requires a decent amount of handling, though I must say she's still a hell of a lot better mannered than most kids her age.). Then I got laid off my job so hey, more time even if it kinda sucks, so now I'm trying to get this rounded out before I have my surgery on Wednesday… My jaw's been falling out of socket when I lay on my right side for over a year now, and is constantly popping and realigning completely wrong pretty much any time I do something more mouth intensive than mutter quietly. Apparently it's even progressed to the point that people can hear it over the phone, and I've kinda gotten sick of people across the room jumping when I snap it back into place at school or work or such, not to mention my face always feels somewhat bruised because of how hard the muscles are trying to compensate for the weak joint…

 

Yeah, hopefully they can fix that.

 

The other good news will also hopefully lead to faster updates overall. Basically I've been in relatively severe and increasing as time goes chronic pain since around when I turned fourteen. You'd be amazed at what you can get used to… but yeah, basically I got put on new painkillers that are non-addictive and make me feel like I'm thirteen again or something… which is hard to even conceptualize, when you haven't been without some layer of pain for over six years, so I'm still kinda in shock over how much energy I suddenly have, and how I just don't feel like utter shit day in day out, essentially. I'm running my own little victory parade over here… So, yeah, me happier and with more energy probably means more writing too.

 

If you think the author's note is long, just wait until you see how long the chapter is…

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November 16th 197 - Thursday - Amsterdam

“What's going on?” Rina's voice was hushed, her eyes anxious.

 

Kay felt another chill slide down his spine. His sister was right; everyone walking the streets today was… different. He had noticed it almost immediately, but was no closer to working out the source than he was ten minutes ago. “I don't know,” he whispered back, trying to watch everywhere at once. No one looked particularly violent, the mood was more shocked, more despairing than that, but anger could rise quickly.

 

The part that scared him was that it was universal. It seemed as though the two of them were the only ones out of the loop, which meant that whatever it was was big. Something had happened, this was the kind of fear he remembered from a city knowing the Alliance was on its way to attack. More than anything he was just praying the problem wasn't local. Somewhere other than here would be good…

 

For the first time, he was regretting that they had pawned their stolen tv.

 

“Let's just get to the pub,” he muttered to her, picking up his pace. They had vid screens there, and if the general mood was indicative of anything, the news would be on. They had been heading up to pick up her check early this morning before he got some more work done at the shop, since he hadn't worked for Tate last night, so they were already on their way there, or he would have turned back in the direction of the church and asked to watch the Father's screen instead.

 

He did not want to be on the streets today, something was wrong… and having Rina with him only set him more on edge, because he couldn't be immediately at his best if he had to protect someone in the middle of it…

 

Karina was flushed by the time they got there but he didn't comment, just kept a tight on her hand. The pub was bustling, packed full, which was bizarre at this hour… They were all watching the screens.

 

“Investigators have determined that it most likely was an accident,” the reporter was saying. “However, that does not change the irrefutable fact…”

 

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Brussels

“I want updates on the situation as fast as you can get them, understand?” Relena snapped at the man on the line. “I don't care what I'm doing, keep the numbers coming constant, and keep reevaluating off of any new data that comes in. This takes priority over any other jobs you had going.”

 

“Yes Ma'am,” the man from returned quickly. “We're already fully devoted on exactly that, Mr. Peacecraft's orders. We'll keep you posted, Ma'am.”

 

“Thank-you,” she returned sincerely before hanging up. Running a hand through her hair, she snatched a piece of toast up off the breakfast tray that had been brought up and took a few big bites, propriety forgotten. She wasn't going to get much chance to eat today, and she hadn't done her make-up yet so a mess didn't matter anyway. She started to attack the sausage links a moment later.

 

She just hoped RLTT wrote back soon.

 

“Alright, conference is in an hour, you need to get dressed,” Jake announced, coming out of her bedroom with an armful of clothes. “Keep eating, just gimmie a minute…” He was laying out the clothes on the couch so she could see the assembled pants suit he'd put together for the day. She watched as she took him for his word and continued to devour at a rate that she was mildly worried would make her sick.

 

“Good?” he asked, stepping back. She nodded; it was appropriate and all matched just fine. He nodded in return, spinning back on his heel and marching back into the bedroom. “Alright, I'll get your bag together…” She was supposed to start touring in a few days and had been planning on putting her bag together herself tomorrow, but with the new crisis, she was probably leaving either later today or tomorrow for the Netherlands, and she simply wouldn't have time; she could start her tour after the immediate problems were taken care of, wherever she found herself.

 

Dorothy was out surveying the complexes again, and thankfully therefore wasn't there to laugh at Jake acting as her utter domestic… though really, it would have been Dorothy getting her things together for the meetings today, were she here. As it was, Jake had been living in close enough quarters with her that he sometimes showed up with new clothes for her - which was fortunate, considering how much of a disaster it would be to try to go shopping herself, with crowds the way they were - and he had yet to turn up with something she didn't like, so she trusted his taste. It was funny, looking back, at how confused she had been when he ran off to find her hair clips… That was still weird, but it had only been the tip of the iceberg.

 

She actually trusted his sense of style far more than she did Dorothy's. But, really, Dorothy dressed like she belonged in Hollywood, so that wasn't saying much.

 

Gulping down some tea, she ran a hand through her hair… it was mostly dry now, at least. She'd showered and put her pajamas back on earlier, as she'd known she was going to need to go full formal later and she didn't want to risk spoiling nice clothes with God only knew what beforehand. She still needed to brush her teeth and do her make-up before she got dressed, and she needed to finish her breakfast and tea before that, but she could put on her socks, she supposed… Sighing happily as at the warmth the hot liquid put in her stomach, she rifled through the clothes on the couch that weren't on hangers…

 

Oh my God! “Jacob Miller, you did not need to coordinate my underwear!” She almost appreciated it, because she probably would have done it herself, but it hadn't immediately occurred to her that he had grabbed everything for her.

 

His laugh was devious. “Yell it a little louder!” he called back. “I'm not sure they heard you in your brother's suite.”

 

She rolled her eyes, shaking her head at that… he had a point, but seriously, he had just… “You have to be the most effeminate soldier I've ever met,” she returned after a moment.

 

“Mm, blame Lu… or Treize.”

 

Relena snorted at that, taking another bite of her breakfast before asking, “Treize? Really?”

 

“The man was a complete priss about some of the weirdest shit,” Jake noted, coming back to the door of her bedroom so they could talk properly. “But that actually wasn't what I meant; I was his main go-between for Leia and Mariemaia for a couple years, and Leia…” He shook his head a little and started snickering as he turned to move back out of sight. “And you can only take so many lectures on how to dress from a three-year-old before the pure hilarity of it makes you remember besides…”

 

Relena blinked in surprise, following him. “You knew them?” She certainly hadn't gotten that impression when they had been trying to take Mariemaia from her grandfather, before the little girl simply disappeared. He'd made some comment about how she looked like Treize's mother, but… “Why didn't you ever mention that?”

 

“Eh,” the noise was a verbal shrug from within the closet. “I haven't seen them in… I guess it's been something like seven years, now. I was the only one Treize trusted enough for the job that was also young enough not to be under Dekim's suspicion for being Marie's father, but then he took the baby away from her anyhow, and she went back to school… so she reverted back to just sending pictures and letters, before they both vanished outright. Marie was only five or six, the last time I saw her.”

 

“He didn't trust Milliardo or Noin?” she asked curiously.

 

“Zechs, no, he always had his own agenda and Treize knew it more than anyone else; joining the Specials was purely a means to his own ends. With Lu, he did trust her, and sometimes she worked as a third party for it, but she was still in training… I just had more time than her.” He paused for a moment before asking, “Should I pack more than one pair of heels?”

 

“Probably two, unless all formal wear you pick all match one pair,” she decided, moving back into the main of the suite to leave him to it. Her computer chirped as new information came in, and she immediately went to read it.

 

The incident last night had been a complete and utter disaster.

 

As far as investigators could tell, the fire had been accidental, caused when a group of people snuck into one of the massive granary silos near Rotterdam in the middle of the night. From the little surviving surveillance footage, they looked like they had been refugees; hopeful thieves, looking to steal their own supply of grain to sell and use instead of waiting for what they must have seen as a dubious promise of equal rations. Considering the reputation her brother had wrought on his organization, Relena could not honestly blame the population's distrust, though she was working hard to reverse it.

 

It wasn't entirely clear what had happened from there beyond the fact that there were no traces of typical explosives. Instead, it looked as though two things had happened. First, the master gauge for the concentration of dust from the grain was faulty, and in fact had been higher than was safe, with no one the wiser for it; she had already used the Regime's resources to send out engineers to all the neighboring and far silos to evaluate their gauges so that this could not happen again.

 

Second, the refugees had been confronted by the guards, and some kind of fight had ensued, which somehow had moved and escalated to the point that the high concentration of pressurized grain dust had exploded, probably initially sparked by gunfire from one or both sides. It was impossible to know the details of what had happened due to the damage, and both the would-be thieves and defenders had been immediately incinerated in the resulting explosion, so the exact placing of blame was a bit fuzzy.

 

The updates she had just demanded be immediately sent to her were the running estimations of how much could be salvaged and how much food was truly lost; she had to have those numbers before settling the details on what to do about it. The silo had been in the Netherlands, but it had not been the locals who caused the problem; unfortunately, it had already been suggested a number of times that the rate of rationing only be adjusted in that area, but, while it might be the simplest solution, it both was not even vaguely right and would only condemn the country to economic depression and a large portion of the population to starvation.

She couldn't believe how many heads of state in the rest of Europe wanted to do exactly that. Selfish, unfeeling pigs, she thought in annoyance, gulping down a few swallows of tea. Milliardo wanted to increase security and put down further strictures on those not registered, or those living outside their home state. While slightly more logical, she wanted to glower at him for his purely military approach…

 

What she wanted to know was why it wasn't obvious that they just needed to spread all the grain more thinly while providing more base supplements through RLTT.

 

Shaking her head, she decided to wait on putting on her socks - the bathroom floor might still be wet - and went into the bathroom to finish getting ready. She had a long day ahead of her, convincing men old enough to have children her age that they were being spineless simpletons.

 

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Amsterdam

Duo rushed Karina inside once they reached the Den, extracting promises from her not to go back out today, before racing back out into the cold morning weather and all the dangers with it. He couldn't stay inside… God, he didn't even want to stay in Amsterdam…

 

He started running, the fact that this was becoming a coping mechanism not lost on him; at least this time he wasn't so far gone as to not realize where he was going. He needed to move, to shake off the fear trying to cling to him, but there was no way in hell he could afford to not pay attention to his surroundings, not today…

 

It was like the day they had announced the plague had spread beyond its original two sectors… the order for full quarantine came two days later. And after that… after that it had only been a matter of time before the violence started coming to a head. People would mostly be too scared to try to start anything today… the fighting would only come after the desperation had sunk in, if he was honest with himself, but plenty of people were desperate over other things already…

 

He was at the shop.

 

Unlocking the door, he let himself in and locked it behind him, shoving his hands into his hair as he leaned back against the door. This was bad… this was so incredibly bad… The food shortage had just gotten five times worse, and he knew politicians well enough to figure how much they were going to be affected, when the granary that had caught fire was right outside Rotterdam, less than fifty miles away. He had learned at a young age not to trust anyone in politics… though he could admit that originally that was probably more an extension of `Don't trust anyone with money' than anything he had heard the politicians had done. He'd only learned the latter as he'd gotten older, but damn had he learned it well… Treize could run circles around him any day, confusing him by changing the entire political climate, and he was pretty sure by what he'd heard from Wufei that the guy could probably have kicked his ass in a suit too… And Une and Zechs had both scared the shit out of him on more than a few levels.

 

Who the fuck thinks blowing a colony out of the sky, or dropping a battleship on the planet is ever a good idea? Even if initially they had only meant it as a bluff, it was still more than a little screwed up. Quatre… Quatre had the excuse of the Zero system fucking with him, which Zechs wasn't allowed because he'd already proven he was perfectly competent fighting and keeping his head long before it had all come to a head at Libra. Heero kept his head after initial exposure, which he couldn't help but admire, and eventually Quatre had too, and Zechs had kept his head better through the beginning stages of it than any of them, so trying to suggest he just lost it later when he'd obviously already figured out how to master the system…? Bullshit, plain and simple, if that was even the excuse he was trying to use; he just avoided the subject altogether and cracked down with his new, ill-gotten power instead.

 

There was only one politician he had ever trusted… and that was Relena. Sweet little idealistic, pacifist Relena, who had learned to play hardball sometime while he had been learning the meaning of family… and the only good thing he could say about what he had learned today was that he knew Relena was going to be all over it the same way she had once been about pacifism. She'd let that old boat sail once she realized there was no way in hell it had a chance of happening anymore, and instead had taken a strong focus on humanities… the militia, the amplifiers, the vitamin production, and individual program after program after program on the local level around Europe. When they'd had their tv still, he'd always watched the news, and he could see the effects of what she was doing every day… shit, the militia alone was something he'd kiss her for, it was probably going to be the only thing that would keep this winter from being like the last two. The food complexes she was building now, and she was about to go on tour again to focus more on local programs…

 

And he could hardly wait to see what else she had up her sleeve, because he remembered the little princess… and he knew she had yet to pull her big guns. Little Miss Darlian-Peacecraft had only just started to get her feet wet when he knew she had it in her to dive headfirst… and she was definitely much stronger than she had been two years ago.

 

He smiled a little, letting his arms fall to his sides and taking a deep breath. Thinking about Relena calmed him down in the same sort of way that he remembered he'd always given Heero shit about, the way the guy'd just follow her lead on pure faith… But now the more time that passed, the more he realized that Heero's initial instincts were just that good, that he'd been right about Relena all along. Duo'd never minded the girl, before, and he'd liked her well enough, but… Heero'd known somehow how much power she had in her, that she was capable of pulling off the same sort of impossible crazy-ass shit that Heero was, just in a different field. That was why those two had gotten on so well together, he figured, how they were somehow always on the same page despite her being the princess, the pacifist, him the colonies' perfect soldier. If anyone could pull off the impossible, it was those two, and Relena was managing all this without her old crush…

 

If anyone could pull them through this depression, it was going to be Relena… and he could hardly wait to see how she was going to try to work her magic this time.

 

He let out another deep breath, realizing he was probably okay to go home now… though he had some work to get done here, so maybe he would just work on that instead. Melissa would be getting off shift in less than half an hour, and she'd probably heard more than he had, and could give him a better idea of how people were reacting… He'd never been more glad that the Militia worked in partners or larger groups. Melissa could certainly hold her own, but… he was just glad that she would never have to; he was all too familiar how much fun that was.

 

Maybe… no, it was a bad idea. But maybe he could just… kinda… He shook his head. No… better not. Tempting fate was the last thing he needed to do right now, with everyone so stirred up.

 

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November 17th 197 - Friday - Paris, France

“Alright,” Jake muttered softly enough that only she could hear. “Just tell me when you want me to start knocking heads together.”

 

Relena smiled a little, glancing up and back to him slightly to grumble, “I'll keep the offer in mind.” She was careful to simply breathe it out between slightly parted teeth; it might be bad if someone managed to decipher what they were saying from a video later because she wasn't as practiced as he at speaking without moving her lips. Anyone would be able to tell she and her bodyguard had spoken to each other when she had obviously acknowledged him like this, but the words were lost.

 

“Maybe we should set up a code word for it so we don't lose time once you decide you're fed up,” he suggested dryly.

 

She looked away from him, focusing her eyes on the men down the conference table that were still arguing like middle schoolers. “You're getting feisty,” she noted, staying careful of her lips' movement.

 

“If you yelled that as the signal, people might get the wrong idea,” was his glib reply.

 

“I might be able to get away with saying the fight wasn't my idea,” she argued mildly, before standing and leaning forward to rest her weight on her hands. Enough is enough. “Gentlemen,” she called out in a low but clear, calm, authoritative voice. “If you've had your fun, could we please return to the situation at hand?” It honestly boggled her mind that the representatives of France and Neo Germany still went for each other's throats as if World War II was only yesterday. Though really, that's so far back it can't even be vaguely applicable… Their personalities probably just clashed horribly.

 

Those involved had the grace to flush, though whether it was in embarrassment or anger for being called out by a seventeen-year-old was hard to say. No one tried to call her out for her reprimand, which might have been because it was fully justified and they realized that maybe they ought to have said something…

 

But it also might have to do with the fact that over half of them had served under Queen Peacecraft. She had made it abundantly clear two years ago that she had no strings to be manipulated by, and a will of iron.

 

When she spoke, however much they might resent her age or power, they listened.

 

They likely remembered the abrupt shift of power to their supposed puppet queen, before she handed them all off to Treize on what would have looked like a whim. And they were perfectly free to believe she had passed off that power because she had simply felt like it, though they were just as likely to think she had done it to go join her brother, despite her actions having been the exact opposite. More likely, their acquiescence was banked more on that seeming unity, solidified by the fact that today she was Milliardo's representative as well.

 

“I love it when you do that,” Jake muttered happily. “It's like when Lu gives over and bitchslaps someone, only you do `em all at once. It's just awesome.”

 

Ignoring his commentary even as she secretly glowed with amusement, she got right to the point. “What I need from all of you is a beginning estimate on your native and refugee populations, and a more formal one later after the full work's been done for your census.” Far too much of this meeting had already been spent on pointless speculation and arguments, or exchanging insults and tempers. Whether they felt cooperative or not, she was going to get the information she needed for Jake's algorithms to run options and find a workable solution. She was going to introduce them to the ideas she found humanely acceptable as well, but what they wanted, at this point, was hardly relevant. There would be time for negotiations after the numbers were crunched. Argument started again as her reasons for wanting the information were obvious, and they were all worried about being cheated. Of course, she thought in some annoyance, their definition of cheated probably means not getting the exact sum they were promised before the granary fire.

 

Suppressing a sigh, she set about soothing their ruffled feathers; they would be easier to work with if they didn't completely distrust her. There was no way that they would like what needed to be done - there were no winners, when it came to the food shortage - but she couldn't help but think that she would have gotten a less hostile response if she were not working through her brother.

 

Unfortunately, right now, as it had been since the end of the war, her dependence on him was unavoidable - there was no other access to the power she needed in order to ease the pressure the planet was under. She had come a long way from her decision to regain influence by any means necessary last December, working to eventually undermine her borderline demented brother, but it was still a long road yet. Milliardo could not stay in power any longer than was avoidable, but she still didn't have the resources to wrest the wheel from him without dire consequences.

 

She tried not to think of how many suffered while she bided her time and gained his trust and command, building her own empire within the Regime, gaining more sway and control. She was only going to get one chance; if she failed, Milliardo would never let her in close enough to try again, and all this time spent would be worth nothing. RLTT would probably still keep her as a candidate, but her brother would severely limit her movement.

 

Who would Jake side with? Relena found herself wondering, not for the first time. She wanted to think he would stay by her, especially considering the remarks she heard him make about his old friend from time to time, especially when he was in a mood… But just the same, it wasn't a theory she was eager to test. By the time the point was relevant, she hoped there would be no question in her mind.

 

For the moment, at least, Milliardo and her goals lined up well enough, and that made everything easier. She had been slipping by him on points he regarded as having secondary importance these past months, but it was starting to get to where they would either butt heads or have to compromise; she was not willing to settle for the tidbits of influence over certain departments that he was giving her now. She needed to make a difference, and while she had been, the beginning of a shift in power needed to become both fact and evident to the public, soon. She was not going to stand aside and let him ruin what work she had managed with his mangling - Milliardo was still very much Zechs, as Jake insisted on calling him, very much a soldier, not a politician.

 

So today… today was fine, and they would work together as siblings ought to be able. Tomorrow…

 

Tomorrow, they would just have to see.

 

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Prague

Sally sighed, sitting back in her chair and rubbing her temples. Never let it be said that running a resistance group is simple, she thought tiredly. Though, thinking back to the reports on her desk… Running a good one, at least.

 

She had accepted and taken up the post of leading this group because she was both the only one available with experience and because everyone else that might have had a clue were dead, missing, or emotional train wrecks. She had a sharp mind - How else would she have made it through medical school? - and she had proven during the war that she both knew what she was doing and was good at it. She usually didn't plan attacks and hand out missions anymore, leaving that to her general's discretion, but she did select objectives both for furthering their advance and maintaining their army; someone had to be sure they stayed fed, equipped, and hidden, after all.

 

She had long ago trained herself to spot patterns, originally for studying, linking together points of logic in the human body to make a diagnosis; the same frame of mind was useful in other fields as well, of course, which was one of the reasons they had been as successful as they had over the past two years. However, she was definitely seeing a pattern in the rogue groups that did not sit well in her stomach.

 

One of the main difficulties with fighting the Regime, especially right after Libra, was that however wrong the government was, a stable governing system was crucial, and the Regime was the only organization capable of fitting the bill, once the Alliance had fallen. Originally, all her efforts had focused on helping the refugees who had suddenly found they had prices on their heads, or limiting the control that Milliardo attempted to exert; she had kept him from gaining enough power to put the entire planet under martial law. He was a necessary evil that she had long worked to keep in check while she built up enough resources, enough power, to bring him down and not have what was left of the economy crash with him. After almost two years, they were starting to get close; soon, they would be able to attack more openly and strike decisive blows instead of nibbling at his ankles.

 

Someone, however, was getting impatient.

 

It really wasn't surprising, all things considered; it was really only natural that, when hurt, a person wanted to lash out and strike. What actually worried her was that she had suddenly realized that the more destructive `random' attacks, such as the one Hilde had been complaining about the other night, were organized… which was potentially very bad.

 

A handful of stupid people were all it took to bring the world down around your ears. The last war had certainly proven that.

 

At the same time, while she knew this spelt out trouble, she had no idea what to do; she could see that there was a pattern, but had no way to predict the next move on the chessboard. It was situations like this where the Zero system - and someone who could use the damn thing without attempting genocide - would come in handy. Its predictive power was phenomenal, and it didn't need to base around combat; it would only need some minor reprogramming by someone who understood the system well enough…

 

…She really hoped Xutao had been right about Heero surviving.

 

As things stood, though, she couldn't even fully differentiate the organized outside attacks from the truly random ones and isolate a motive from there, assuming it was even a logical motive. More than anything, it looked like they were just going to have to sit and wait it through and hope someone else had a better idea of what to do… and that bothered her more than she could possibly ever put words to.

 

Sitting forward again, the newspaper headline from yesterday caught her eye. That… that just made her want to cry.

 

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November 19th 197 - Sunday - Amsterdam

“Chaos?”

 

“It's Kasey now, Father,” the teenager returned warmly as he closed the door behind him, coming forward and hugging the priest in greeting. “Sorry I didn't come earlier, but everything's been a little crazy… And with so many new people in town, and everyone on alert, I…”

 

Father Espen frowned. He had been about to dismiss the apology, the boy's timing was fine, but his hesitation was important. “What's wrong, Son?” Chaos… Kay… Kasey, now… started to chuckle weakly, gripping his shirt tightly, hiding his face in his shoulder…

 

That worried him, and he held the boy back just as fiercely, giving the comfort he was obviously seeking. In the year or more that he had known their American immigrant, he had never seen him so lost as this, even when he first arrived… he had not thought he would stay with them long, then, he was so distant and distraught, but once he had he had settled, he had calmed. Slowly he had begun to believe that his past life, whatever it was, was forgivable, and allowed himself to take pleasure in his existence… and then he and Miss Mehile had truly found each other and begun to heal each other's wounds, somehow.

 

He was a man of faith but also a practical man, and understood that not everyone could come to their answers simply through the narrow road the Church demanded, though he always encouraged that path… Sometimes, the Lord carved out a different path for them to walk. He understood how Chaos thought himself too damaged to be worth the time of God, foolish as that thought was. He knew Chaos to be a believer, for all that Sister Isabelle was skeptical; some days he seemed to believe in Him without a single doubt, and others he scorned the idea… but he did so with fear and despair in his eyes.

 

The boy did not want to believe, but he most certainly did… and he was frightened that, wonderful, giving child he truly was, he was not worthy of the Lord's grace. He thought he only deserved punishment, despite all the good he tried to bring about… despite how he was sure that whatever dark history Chaos had done, all of it must have been done with the wellbeing of others in his heart and the Lord in his shadow, protecting him.

 

“I didn't want to come until after dark,” he muttered hoarsely after a moment, still into the shoulder of his shirt. “There are so many new people in town, from all over… What if…”

 

The priest's frown deepened. The hints he had gleaned from Chaos' history were few, and it had only been in the past six months, now that he thought about it, that he had actually known him to wander in broad daylight, though he had dismissed that as the boy only having the time to come in the darker hours…

 

Had he really only ever ventured out at night in those early months? And now…

 

“You are afraid you will be recognized?” he asked quietly. He had not realized the boy thought himself so… universal. Either he was paranoid - which was actually true without needing more evidence, he knew - or this might be more serious than he thought, if Chaos had been well enough known to worry so after so long.

 

When his only response to the question was a harsh shudder Espen knew he had guessed correctly, but really… There had been no questions about the boy since he had first shown up in terms of his old identity. No one had recognized him in a year, and he had grown so, his face had changed and matured as only a teenager's could, he spoke like a native, and if he dyed his hair a lighter color no one would question that he was in fact Lucas von Koll's younger brother, as his papers now claimed.

 

“Kay,” he began soothingly, rubbing small circles on the boy's back, “I don't think you have to worry about that… You don't even look like when I first found you in my church, and obviously we didn't know you for who you once were then, let alone now…”

 

The boy's laughter was harsh, and he was shaking, now. “Won't know it for sure `till the blade starts to fall, and then it's too late, Father…” He'd slipped back into English, and with a thick accent of some sort, but the priest had been raised with as much English as Dutch and had no difficulty following the words. “I've been running from it all year, but it's startin' to look like I'll never really get away after all…”

 

“Of course you can't,” Espen scolded lightly, squeezing him tighter for a moment to soften the blow of his words. “It is a part of who you are… denying it only puts you at war with yourself.” He had wanted to say exactly that for so long, but it had never seemed as though the boy was ready for it… If he was facing the fact now, though, it would be best to face his fears down. He had seen in his eyes so many times now that he had wanted to talk about this but hadn't quite had the strength to do so… that he was afraid of being abandoned if al his truths were known.

 

Chaos was a very careful boy, and normally Espen admired the maturity he could see in it, but sometimes his caution was simply foolish. He did not understand where the line laid where he would always be accepted no matter his history, and exactly how long ago he had crossed it.

 

“I…” He started to pull away and Espen let him, though he still held gently to him and guided him into one of the chairs in front of his desk, taking the other for himself instead of going around to his usual seat. He leaned forward, still visibly shaking, trying to gather his words. “I can't lose all this, Father… Not again…”

 

“What makes you so convinced you will lose everything you have gained in Amsterdam?” he asked calmly, leaning forward himself and gripping one of the teenager's hands in both of his. “You have made a home for yourself here; you belong to every one of us as much as we to you, now.”

 

The boy's sharp laugh was almost a keening noise this time… no tears had fallen yet, but he was surely nearing that point. “Because everyone I love dies, Father… Anyone I ever get close to dies, that's how it's always been, it's part of having the Devil's own fucking luck…” He brought his head up, but his eyes were squeezed shut, a faint wetness beginning to leak out. “Heh… Professor G called me `Maxwell's Demon' when we first met, but I always thought it was worse than that, I'm as good as a grim reaper, the god of death himself, for what happens around me…”

 

Father Espen's eyes widened as it clicked together… Maxwell… God of death… He could remember the day he had met Chaos…

 

-

“When I was young, a church took me in as a war orphan.”

 

“You are young,” he had countered with a gentle sternness.

 

The boy had shrugged a little uncomfortably, looking down. “Older than I truly care to be,” he admitted. “And my church is a long forgotten ruin, now.”

-

 

Maxwell as in the Maxwell Church Tragedy? he realized, looking at the boy with new eyes. The only known survivor was the later gundam pilot… Duo Maxwell. The boy with the long braid and haunted eyes, the priest's collar. He remembered wondering what had hurt him so before dismissing the news from his mind…

 

Oh, Chaos… Duo Maxwell.

 

He reached forward and pulled the boy to him this time, pulling both of them to their knees on the floor between the two chairs. “You have no reason to be ashamed, fighting for those who cannot defend themselves,” he assured him. “The blame is not yours for the misfortunes that have found you… And even if there were such a thing as a god of death, I could hardly believe he would take the form of such a caring child of God as yourself. No…” Chaos, Duo, certainly had had the Lord walking with him during the war. “If anything, you were doing the work of the angels in keeping us all from our graves as Libra fell… You stood when others were too afraid to do more than pray, and did His work in keeping Earth safe, and it is a shame that you have had to hide for all your bravery, but I am glad He sent you to us here, Duo…” The name was odd on his tongue, but he had a feeling that maybe the boy needed to hear it, his true name, not one of those he had taken on as a mask.

 

He had been burdened for so long, believing himself to be so far at fault… the boy finally broke and began to sob… And the priest just held him, making soothing noises. He had deserved to hear those words long ago… but he had been too lost to even know where to begin looking for what he needed. He must have been guided to them, to have somehow made a home here… and Father Espen was not one to turn aside any duty the Lord appointed him.

 

“You are home now, Duo… You are finally safe home, don't fear… Only be yourself and serve the Lord as you always have, and let His will pass…”

 

-

***

-

 

Treize's hidden compound

 

-

Hey again,

 

That was some story you had there, so, you know me, I checked it out right away. Couldn't turn anything up though; sorry, man. I know you had your hopes up, but hey, at least no harm done, right? You'll find the right girl eventually; this one up and vanished into the wind just like the last time you saw her, though. Weird, huh? Practically like some sort of superpower, lol. If I didn't know better, I'd say she was avoiding you and keeping somebody else company. Maybe he's the one helping her hide, whoever he is. Keep trying, I guess, and I'll tell you if I manage to see her again, of course. I know you; you've got your heart set, ne?

 

Nothing too new happening here… same old grind, give or take a few surprises. You catching the news lately? That princess sure is moving around these days… got to hand it to her, I think pretty soon she might just be giving everyone else orders instead of taking any, even from her brother. Hard to believe she's the same hardheaded teenager as two years ago, with whatall she's doing now.

 

Hey, I gotta run, but make sure you watch out for yourself, alright? People get mean when they're scared, and they've got plenty reason to; there's even rumors that more anti-Regime groups are starting to go active and stir up trouble, so don't get yourself in trouble when I'm not there to cover your back, okay? I think there might be something more serious going on than it looks like, even, and that's not so cool seeing how serious things are already… Call it a hunch, and maybe I'm overreacting, but I just don't like it, something's… off, somewhere, you know? I'm not really sure I can trust anyone right now, I'm really on edge… I hope I'm wrong, but just be careful okay?

 

Catch you later,

Váli

-

 

Treize sighed a little as he finished the latest missive, resting his face in one hand; Jaynes swore up and down that he was positive it was Mariemaia he had seen in Italy, and the fact that he had been attacked and left in an alley suggested he had been right on the mark, but whoever was protecting her was also doing a thorough job of hiding her.

 

She was safe though, wherever she was… and the blonde hair was likely one of the reasons she hadn't been spotted yet. Her free movement along with the obvious well-being Jaynes reported suggested that she wasn't with a group, or at least not one spanning more than a bare handful of individuals. Her cooperation with her easy deceit of innocence and key role in ambushing his man also suggested she was happy where she was, which he had gathered from the men at Dekim's base that she really hadn't seemed to have been before.

 

Despite being in a small group, however, she was obviously moving more than he had expected was possible before, if she had originally gone missing in Lithuania, only to appear in Italy and vanish without a trace again. That was definitely unusual… and suggested, even if Jaynes' takedown hadn't already given it away, that whoever she was with was highly skilled.

 

So she was healthy, happy, and decidedly safe, with whoever her protector was, taking down one of his soldiers without effort and removing her from the area she'd been sighted in immediately by both his own and Váli's reckoning… but still decidedly out of his reach. It was something, he supposed, but definitely not what he wanted, all the same.

 

He wished he knew the motives of her current caretaker, whoever it was.

 

As for Váli's warning… that much was obvious; his own sense of danger was heightened even locked away in a mountain as he was, and he had heard both from his other agents and `Adam' that rebellious activity was on a sharp rise. Unfortunately, there was little to do about it other than interfere with what they could, as Adam was doing and he had already ordered his own to do before he had heard from the free agent, and wait.

 

He wished Váli could have said something a little more enlightening… but that was the way of the world, really.

 

-

***

-

 

Amsterdam

“So,” Duo muttered, trying to collect himself and stop being embarrassed. “What'd you need to talk to me about?” Melissa had told him this morning that Amos had passed the message along yesterday. He had been worried the Father might be annoyed already by the time delay, so he'd been more worked up than normal, and he had already been would tight for days… Luc was working a later and longer shift now, which was nice in that he was picking Rina up from work instead of taking her, and taking care of the baby was almost therapeutic for Duo, especially since mostly he was watching her sleep, but he liked being able to talk to Luc, and it seemed like he hadn't for weeks, even though honestly it had only been a few days that their schedules didn't line up… Luc was one of his biggest anchoring points these days, and he did not like being separated from him.

 

He couldn't let Luc really be like Solo, couldn't let him die too, somehow… He had so much more to lose this time… He knew it was beyond irrational, but he couldn't quite get past the thought all the same.

 

He sure as hell hadn't meant to have a total breakdown. Though. The Father had enough on his plate without him adding to it, but he couldn't help but feel surprisingly good for it. Definitely not because of the crying part, but hey, Father Espen knew… And, well, it was kinda embarrassing to be called a gift from God, but it sure was a lot nicer than `terrorist'…

 

The priest, for his part, sighed heavily, his expression saying he was having a hard time working out how to put his words together. Uh… not good. This had to be important, if he was hesitating like he was.

 

“With the recent events,” he began after a moment, “I've been asked to take on a few more children.”

 

Duo nodded; Espen had said he guessed as much as soon as the news of the coming food crisis came in a few weeks ago.

 

“What I did not expect,” he went on to explain, “was for then to lower my cutoff age to fifteen in order to compensate.” Meeting the other's eyes solidly, he added, “And because Amos is employed now, I have been told to turn him loose sometime this month, even though he has six months left by the new law.”

 

Oh. Well, Shit. Duo let out a sigh of his own. That… was entirely manageable, Amos was almost always at the shop and had showered with the Devils' guys for months, he and Nolan had made friends, so it wasn't as if he was new, but… damn, that sucked. Poor kid… He'd been living at the church since he was really little, he could hardly remember having a different home, and the state was just kicking him out? That was… harsh. It made his blood boil a bit, actually. That wasn't even vaguely fair… What if the kid hadn't had a group to blend into already? He would have just been fourteen and out on the street during this hell of a winter… his damn birthday wasn't until May.

 

“We've got room for him,” he assured the priest, and watched him relax in relief. It was weird, in a way… he remembered the Father protesting Amos having any contact with the Devils on the whole beyond Duo and the few who visited regularly, saying he didn't want the boy to get mixed up with the gang reputation, and Duo had agreed wholeheartedly then… When was it that everything had changed? He supposed the Devils really weren't a gang, now, not like they'd been when he first arrived… though if the newly forming coalitions didn't calm the hell down, they might have to be again. The kids wouldn't be a part of it though. He knew that without a thought. And now that Amos had inadvertently made decent friends with Melissa's little brother and tentative acquaintances with the other kids they had around the same age, it just… wasn't a big deal.

 

That and the alternative wasn't exactly doable.

 

“It won't be any sort of problem, but that… that's just cold.”

 

“Yes,” the Father agreed tiredly. “It's cruel beyond measure… I still need to tell him.” Duo grimaced; that was one speech he was glad he didn't have to give. It was just going to break the kid's heart, having to leave.

 

“I was going to tell him tomorrow,” the man continued. “I was hoping you could be there to soften the blow, remind him that he's not going to strangers.”

 

Crap. Thought too soon. “Alright.” The priest nodded thankfully, leaning back in his chair… then stared at him critically for a long moment, making his skin want to inch away. “What?”

 

“Kasey,” he muttered, rolling the unfamiliar name over his tongue, tasting it, “I wouldn't worry about someone recognizing you. Even when you first came to us, you didn't look at all like the pictures they have of you.”

 

He blinked, not having expected that. “Really?” He still thought it was damned obvious.

 

“The braid was the only part of you that stood out,” he noted. “You…” He smiled a little. “You're very American, in that aspect; you look as though you might belong to any homeland.” His eyes going gently stern, he added, “And the collar, as well as the braid.” The ex-pilot couldn't help but blush at that, and the Father simply shook his head a little and moved on. “All the film and video was taken while you were captured, and you always walk tall and proud, which is different from those shots; you don't overtly act like you have anything to hide, so it's not natural to question the idea. You must be 5'9, 5'10 now, a full head or more taller, and you've gained some visible muscle. Your face has changed… I want to say you're eighteen or at least close to it, and your voice is fully matured now.” He grimaced. “As Melissa seems to tell the Sister every day.”

 

He laughed a little at that… his voice had definitely evened out into a good tenor, and Melissa was more than happy to compliment it to anyone who'd listen.

 

Shaking his head, the Father continued. “Kay, your accent disappeared months ago, and honestly, the only reason passerby might have a passing thought that you were not originally from here is because your hair is so dark. If you bleached it a shade of blonde, because I know you want to avoid brown, you would blend in completely.”

 

Duo frowned, pulling his ponytail over one shoulder to consider it. “I don't think I can get away with blonde,” he argued. “My skin's a little too tan to pull it off.” Even in space, he had never gotten pale enough to pull off bleaching his hair and having it look natural.

 

“A dark blonde would be fine,” Espen assured him. “Nothing like Karina, but not quite so brown as Valio's; definitely blonde by anyone's definition, but… ashy.”

 

Huh… He probably had a point, there… And it was good to hear all the reasons why someone might not really see who he was. “Thanks, Father,” he said genuinely, tossing his hair back over his shoulder and standing. “You really helped me out today.” Even though I didn't realize I needed it. “When do you want me to come tomorrow?”

 

-

***

-

 

November 21st 197 - Tuesday - Sahara Desert

Robby clenched his jaw until it ached, holding the body close to him as he slowly walked back to his part of camp. It was dark now, the moon high and casting its eerie light across the sand… and that suited him just fine.

 

Stefan… His hands clenched around the cold flesh in his arms. Stefan was dead. He hadn't been doing anything traitorous by the standard of rules they lived by here, just throwing his weight around with some newly released guys, testing what they thought, probably. He had only pushed his influence a little harder than the strictest interpretation of the rules allowed, and Roshan had executed him on the spot.

 

Bullshit. Stefan was killed because he was one of Robby's, and Roshan was only looking for reasons to take out his frustration with everything gone wrong on them in particular just because he didn't like Robby.

 

He had been right in his suspicions once the news of the coming food crisis reached them, he knew they were going to crack down harder, but this… this was the fucking taboo laws all over again.

 

He screwed his eyes shut, trying to take a deep breath, though instead it hitched and he fought not to gasp. Stefan was dead… “Damnit,” he whispered fiercely, the weight in his arms, the remains of a man who had trusted him to keep him safe, that he had promised he would get out of this hellish place… No one he had gathered about him had died since they had finished purging the true fanatics out of their sector at the end of July.

 

Was this the price of leadership, in all reality? That, even if he did everything he could and did well, he would always be forced to eat his words in the worst way possible? This was an awful world, a terrible planet they had come from, however beautiful from afar. Before February he had thought the desert was beautiful, in its own, magnificent way… now, though, even after he escaped he suspected he would never be able to think of it without remembering the blood and violence, the fear and fury so thick in the air he could taste it, and he didn't know he could ever scrub the blood, sweat, and grime out of his darkened skin with all the soap and hot water in the world…

 

“Robby?”

 

He swallowed hard, squeezed his eyes harder for a moment, not daring to waste the water - he didn't care about losing face here, among friends - before looking up and meeting Nick's gaze. Nick… Nick was a good kid forced into the cruel desert… something he wished he could say as much about himself without it tasting sour. Nick could probably go back to his old life once they escaped. Not Robby, though…

 

…Not Stefan.

 

“See what you and the others can find to build a pyre,” he ordered Nick tonelessly, shifting his grip on the body; they were responsible for handling their own dead, and fire was the only way safe of disease that he knew, here in the sand.

 

“Is that…?” Nick cut himself off, licking his lips, staring in horror. “But… but why?”

 

“Because Roshan thinks he's our new god,” the blonde snarled. Roshan… Roshan was one man he would happily kill with never a single thought of remorse. Why did it have to be Roshan? He demanded despairingly for what felt like the thousandth time. He had had everyone else on that rank level eating out of the palm of his hand, and they had all transferred to nearby encampments while Roshan was left in charge here, when it was Roshan who suspected he might be more clever than he appeared.

 

At least he doesn't know the truth, he thought resignedly, beginning to feel numb from being so close to an empty body for so long. He welcomed the sensation, however desolate; it was better than the grief right then, allowing him to actually think… even though he didn't really want to think either. He wanted to go hide and sleep, but he had to put together something resembling a funeral for Stefan and be bombarded with it all over again…

 

He sighed, moving forward to find their old spot that they had burned at before, far enough away and downwind enough that the smell shouldn't last too long, since Nick had already run off to make the beginning preparations. As always, there was work to do… anything else, his emotionality included, would just have to wait. He had survived the cages and the raids, the brutal contention between ranks, the constant suspicion, by changing his frame of mind enough to stave off any breakdowns; a single one in the past eight months would have likely ended in his demise. It might be safe now, among friends in their own camp, to let it happen, but it would be bad for moral, and he couldn't let the habit reform… he needed to stay sharp and let his deep-ground instinct guide him, or he wouldn't last long enough to keep his promises to his men.

 

And after they escaped… well, then it was just the beginning of a different hell. It would better than here, to be sure - anywhere would be better than here - and he was far better equipped than he had once been, but…

 

He couldn't decide if he wasn't worried about that because it would be so much less compared to the desert, or because he had gotten so used to burying his hope and emotions that he wouldn't know until the new experiences forced them to slam back into himself; it was almost impossible to tell how much he was hiding from his own mind, anymore. But he would be free again, away from orders, even if his life would still be constrained… and it was such an intangible idea at this point that he couldn't help but crave it, no matter what it might actually be like.

 

Clearing his mind entirely, he went about what needed to be done for Stefan. He could think about it once the others were all around him, when it would be impossible to ignore everything again.

 

-

***

-

 

Amsterdam

Luc shivered as he locked the door to the den and pulled his coat off. He really wanted to keep it on, but rules had to be followed if they were to do any good, and they had all agreed a long while back that the outermost coats - and all the muck that managed to get on them - needed to stay in the entryway. Once he's gotten his boots off as well, he wrapped his arms around himself and hurried through the empty, dimly lit den to the stairs, where he knew it would be warmer, both because the heat was set comfortably below and because in just a minute he could crawl into bed with Karina…

 

He didn't like coming home this late, but with the up in violence the militia shifts had gone up too, and he was hardly going to turn down extra hours. The grave shift paid better too, so he was going to try and stay on it for as long as he could; the more money each of them managed to pocket the better, just incase some sort of emergency happened, as they always seemed to… it was just the way life worked, really. Every time you thought you'd gotten a handle on it, something went topsy-turvy and you had to figure out how to make up for it.

 

It was much nicer downstairs, though it still looked like he was the only one up and about. He thought about knocking on Kay and `Liss's door for a minute before deciding that even they were probably asleep… and he really needed to just go to sleep, even if he hadn't seen his friend in more than a week. He sighed as he made his way to his own door. These hours just don't match up good… It was nice because he got to take care of his baby in the afternoons, but his concept of time was completely shot, and it felt as though he hadn't spent any quality time with anyone in weeks… or days…

 

How long had it been since he started working this shift anyway?

 

Coming into the bedroom quietly, he let his eyes adjust to the nightlight before walking too far. Both his girls were asleep. Sighing softly, he quickly stripped out of his uniform and yanked on the sweatpants and shirt he kept as pajamas. When he crawled into bed next to her, Sin didn't wake up, though on some level she did notice him and made a happy sort of noise in the back of her throat as he curled around her…

 

Mm… Some days, he decided, I have got to be the luckiest bastard I know.

 

-

***

-

 

November 23rd 197 - Thursday - Heidelburg, Germany - Late morning

Bernard groaned in frustration as he tried to find a way to see around all the people, but it was just no use. He scowled. No fair! He wanted to see the princess, but they were all in the way! Maybe if he had something to give her they might let him get closer, people were suckers for kids trying to be nice, but he didn't have anything, and half of that trick was showing whatever it was off and looking pitiful. People liked to give you stuff or let you have your way if they felt sorry for you.

 

“You all suck!” he protested loudly, since he couldn't think of anything else. “I can't see anything!”

 

Someone laughed a little bit, and Bernard turned to look, curious. Maybe someone thought his yelling was cute or something and was going to give him a break; a lot of people got weird like that, when it came to kids. The guy who was laughing was definitely a grown-up, but he probably hadn't been one for long. “What?” he demanded, making his pout obvious. “Don't laugh at me! It's just not fair, you're all tall and stuff!”

 

The man just chuckled a little before crouching down and holding out a paper flower, one of those fold-up kinds he'd seen girls make before, with a paper clip poked through the bottom to make a stem. “My little sister's sick, but she'd made this, and wanted me to come give it to the princess for her. I don't like crowds much though, and Relena stops for kids more than anyone.” He twirled the flower by the wire. “You could probably get close up with something like this to give away, so you'd be able to really see her, and I've got stuff I need to get done today other than this.” He looked up, thinking for a bit before adding, “I can put you up on my shoulders first if you want, so you can see which way is best to go.”

 

Bernard grinned, taking the flower by the wire; it was just paper, and now he had a good excuse to beg through on, while a grown-up who didn't really care could keep his promise without working hard. It was totally win-win. “Sure thing, Mister.”

 

-

***

-

 

“I don't like parades,” Jake muttered worriedly. “They make me nervous.”

 

“I think your paranoia's been rubbing off on me,” Cassidy groused, shrugging his shoulders slightly. “I'm just about as uncomfortable.”

 

“Good.”

 

“They're good for morale,” Relena argued through her smile.

 

“Which would be why we're here complaining instead of hiding in the hotel suite where it's warm,” Jake noted. “That doesn't make me like it, even if I agree that you need to do it.”

 

“Bitch and moan,” Jerome grumbled. “If there's nothing to help for it, shut up about it.”

 

“You're all in a great mood,” Lincoln commented lightly, making an effort to look cheerful even as his tone was annoyed and sarcastic. “Where's the bastard that's been hiding the caffeine from all you addicts today? I'll throttle him for you.”

 

Jake snorted then garbled out a few syllables of completely nonsensical sounds in response, but he was grinning as he did it; he usually appreciated Lincoln's sense of humor the most out of his boys, Relena had realized. And he wasn't actually annoyed… just, as he said, nervous. Her bodyguard didn't like situations where he knew he couldn't completely control the surrounding environment. Even the weather annoyed him… he could be such a colony boy in that aspect.

 

She shook her head a little, giving him a pointed look all the same while smiling warmly at the rest of her guard, before moving towards the edge of the cordoned off street. “You're impossible.” She wasn't entirely sure which of them the comment was directed at… mostly Jake, she supposed, but it applied to all four men. She was rewarded by a couple snickers, but she didn't look back to see who it was that had reacted, instead choosing to smile at a little boy pressed against the barriers, waving something white in his hand at her frantically. The adults surrounding him were smiling a touch indulgently, but only at his antics; he couldn't have belonged to any of them. Moving closer to him, she knew at least Jake must be right behind her, but she ignored him for the moment.

 

The child was flush from the cold and probably exertion too from fighting the crowd to get so close as he was. His hair was brown and wild-looking, his eyes a sort of green-brown, and she could tell by his clothes that he was either one of the city's urchins or that be belonged to one of the refugee families. He certainly has enough energy, though, she decided with a smile, squatting down in front of him. “Hello,” she greeted pleasantly.

 

The boy's eyes became huge as he beamed at her, his hand finally stopping its crazy motion as he thrust the object at her. “I… I, uh…” he was bright red now, and his other hand was gripping the back of his head as he offered a more sheepish smile; the oldest he might be was nine. He probably hadn't been expecting any sort of personal attention, so she offered him an encouraging smile, leaning forward a little more to show he had her attention. “Um…” He stuttered for another moment before waving his hand just a little more at her. “This is for you.”

 

Relena fought down the urge to giggle, and widened her smile with delight instead. He was holding a paper folded up to look like an orchid, with a paperclip poked through the end for a stem, which was what he had been brandishing it by. “Thank-you, she murmured happily, inspiration striking as she took it and used the wire to position the thing in one of the buttonholes of her coat. Her shirt was as white as the folded sheet, while the rest of her clothes were dark, so it even matched beautifully. “It's lovely.”

 

“Ooh, origami,” Jake exclaimed cheerfully as he knelt beside her.

 

The boy flushed again at their attention, looking proud of himself. “My sister made it!” he proclaimed.

 

Jake always smiled a certain way for kids, Relena had realized a long time ago, especially for little boys, probably because they made him remembered his long gone little brother. He unwound his scarf but left it hanging around his neck, then pulled off his officer's hat and took the beanie he was wearing underneath off his head before replacing the more official headgear. “Tell your sister how she liked it, huh?” he suggested easily, snugging the knit cap over the boy's head as the child went still with surprise. Lifting the scarf off the back of his neck, he proceeded to wrap it twice around the boy's neck before settling back on his heels. “And don't forget to take care of yourself,” he admonished gently. “If you keep your head and feet warm, the rest of you will stay warmer too, alright?”

 

The boy was staring at him in shock; Relena watched her friend wait for a response, but when he didn't get one after a few moments, not even a change of expression, he added, “I'm Jake.” Good, make it more normal, break the ice a bit… It looked as though the child was extremely unused to true kindness from strangers, to act as he was. He likely measured the world entirely in just what he could get away with, much as she remembered Duo always seemed to even when hiding in the upper class boarding schools, where luxury was an expected standard. The situation was simply too bizarre for him to react properly.

 

At the introduction, however, the boy nodded a little, turning his gaze instead on his new scarf as he fingered it, eyes enraptured. After a moment the uncertainty left his face and was instead replaced with delight as he grabbed the material with both hands and rubbed it against his cheek. Relena bit back another smile; he probably had never felt chenille before, and the heavy, silky warm knit was likely a novelty all by itself, let alone the fact that it was a beautiful blue and all his. She had given the accessory to Jake not long after his birthday, but she wasn't offended at the easy way he had given it away; that was simply the way her bodyguard was, when it came to children. He would happily empty out everything in his pockets if he thought it might help them, and the boy obviously could use the extra warmth. She could easily get Jake something else later; presents weren't restricted to birthdays and holidays, though Christmas was close too, she supposed…

 

“Thank-you,” the boy finally said, interrupting her thoughts, his eyes both glistening and beyond happy, now. “I'm…” He licked his lips. “My name's Bernard.” His hands were fisted deep in the blue material hanging down his front as he repeated an even more heartfelt, “Thank-you.”

 

“Thank-you, Bernard,” Relena insisted, reaching over and tucking aside the fringe of hair almost completely covering one of his eyes that had gotten stuck there when her bodyguard tucked the beanie on the boy's head. Straightening the origami flower, she added, “I like it very much; it means more than you think.” Gifts and tokens like the flower always did. She stood, brushing herself off, ignoring all the cameras flashing around her as she had been for the past hour. “Try and stay warm, alright?” She had long gotten used to the press following her every move, and she certainly didn't care if they wanted to photograph and tape her doing something good.

 

She gave the child a little wave and moved back towards the center of the parade, Jake only a few steps behind her. Apparently still in a somewhat bitchy mood - probably in part because it was only now occurring to him that he was going to be cold for the rest of the parade, without his scarf - he muttered, “I think I remembered why I avoided such public jobs before.” When she let out an exasperated sort of sigh he argued, “Seriously, how can you not be blind by now? I hate constantly seeing spots…”

 

She stifled a giggle at that. Okay, maybe he has a point, there… The camera flashes had always been obnoxious, but really, she had gotten used to them by the time she was fourteen. Still… “Baby,” she muttered affectionately through her smile. She was getting better and better at… `public speaking' like this.

 

He only snorted in response and did up the buttons high on his collar that he usually left unbuttoned, obviously annoyed but realizing it really wasn't worth the effort of complaining, finally, or at least realizing that much more and Relena would cease to be amused by it. Normally she didn't mind, but today just… She was so tired, she'd been working practically day and night anymore trying to organize relief and keep the European infrastructure form caving in on itself in any one area. The past week had been an absolute nightmare as she blended the new crisis with her previously planned tour, and honestly, she needed a break… just… a day or so, and she would probably have her wind back…

 

Sighing inwardly, she decided to ask Jake about it once they weren't on video somewhere, incase it became slightly more emotional when she admitted to him that she was hitting her limits for exhaustion. She wanted to sleep in her own bed for a night or two and actually sleep for more than a couple hours here and there. The question was, could the world handle her taking a break from it for a day or so, or would that have to wait?

 

That was something Jake would be able to help her sort out within a half hour, once they were away from all the publicity.

 

“Lena?” he asked quietly. He had noticed her change of mood, despite the lack of her actually showing it, which she actually rather appreciated. Jake really cared about his friends, and he showered them with attention, and he had an invaluable eye when it came to the details. He could read her like a book… but honestly, she could do the same for him, at this point.

 

It was amazing how much a person could grow and change in a year. And I haven't even known Jake for that long yet. “Later,” she muttered for his ears alone, glad that he had caught on; it saved her having to find a way to broach the subject later. She felt a little silly for wanting a break already, but the stress… the world was riding on her shoulders to a decent degree, and that was utterly nerve-wracking. She just couldn't trust Milliardo to manage this correctly, so the votive fell to her.

 

She fingered the origami flower with a smile, looking down to it briefly, then back to the wildly cheering crowd. At least, she decided, I know I have some support. She looked over her shoulder to smile at Jake too, and he returned it. Support on every front.

 

-

***

-

 

It was a damn small squad… which meant the lead was either stupid or incredibly versatile and intelligent. That and, while he had managed to more or less confirm that this was all of her current guard, no one else sneaking around back alleys or the crowds trying to look like everyone else, that didn't mean there weren't more off duty, so the boys always stayed fresh…

 

One glanced sharply at him, and he blinked, calling up a mildly bewildered expression before offering a shaky grin and small wave. Ooh, nice… small squad, but nicely trained, they knew how to smell out attention… or whatever they officially called it in spy school. The guy smiled back a little before his attention shifted away, though his eyes lit up as he looked back to the princess and laughed, looking mildly bewildered. Curious, Duo looked back to Relena, who had a satisfied look on her face as she pointedly only smiled, and the guy laughed harder, though he was trying to stifle it…

 

Holy shit. He grinned as he walked a ways away, running that thought over and over again in his mind. It looked like little Miss Peacecraft had learned to talk without moving her lips, which was so much more… devious than he remembered her being. That was interesting all by itself, even if her lead guard didn't put his hackles up on some level. The crew was damn well trained too, to be sure, and she seemed familiar with them, and changes would be immediately noticed so that was good. And she had to have learned that little parlor trick of hers from someone.

 

Sitting down on a park bench near the hotel they were about to head into, he reviewed the main reason he had decided to keep his distance, what had made him completely drop his half-thought idea to maybe visit her in person. Her lead guard, Miller… Something about him put him on edge, and he was still trying to figure out exactly what it was; he would have left as soon as he made sure his note got passed along, otherwise. He wasn't interested in risking anything, in all reality…. But something about just being near Relena got people willing to just do stuff for her. No wonder she drove Heero so mad, he decided, leaning back. I'm happy as a clam and still want to do something stupid just so she can see, and Heero… Heero was a damn basketcase. He tilted his head to the side, liking the fact that thinking about his one-time comrade wasn't setting his guts twisting the way it would have just a week ago. He sure as hell knew how to get a job done, he decided after a moment. But he was still damn mental.

 

Then again, they probably all had to be a little nuts to agree to pilot a 7.4 ton war machine against the entirety of the damn Earth-Sphere Alliance and Order of the Zodiac. And he was the one who'd broken the crazy out of a hospital, so really, there just wasn't much room to talk.

 

Standing up, he approached from roughly the same area he was in before; if he came from a different direction, he was worried about being mistaken for a danger instead of the overeager fanboy he was going for. They had convinced the press to leave her be entirely just a bit ago, then after that there really weren't too many people who had worked out exactly what back alleys the princess had been rerouted through after her publicity stunt today; Miller knew the area pretty well somehow, and was confident that there would be no problems… the question was whether he had made sure he wouldn't run into anything, or if he was just that overconfident. They were in a sort of relative privacy, recognizable to anyone looking hard but not the center of attention. Relena had put on a different coat and a hat, and the men no longer looked military, shedding their outer layer and revealing different colored various sweaters that looked completely normal.

 

Relena was obviously more relaxed than she had been earlier under the masses' scrutiny, and Miller stood close enough to her to pass for an overprotective boyfriend, casually chewing a piece of gum and grinning as they all talked. Well done… Completely laid back vibe, all, `Nothing unusual to notice here, a group of friends and one of them's girl, nothing to see…' It was practically masterful, and definitely practiced. They had done this before, probably in fair part as a stress relief.

 

This time it was Miller who met his eyes with an easy smile, and though his eyes were amused, the message was… pointed. When Duo blinked, surprised in spite of himself, the man shifted his weight slightly… and everyone else, including the princess, slid into some kind of formation.

 

Aw shit.

 

He held his hands up in a surrender, looking down and away as he started to back up, then turned and started jogging the other way. There was no way he could claim to not have noticed the dismissal this time, and he wasn't eager to find out if his face had changed enough to survive true scrutiny, no matter what the Father said.

 

Besides, he was sure now that he had been right in not trying to get close. Miller definitely had a separate night guard, and he wouldn't be surprised if there were one or two guys good enough at espionage in that crowd that he really might have passed them over as normal. What bits and pieces he'd managed to put together about the man's history suggested ability, and he'd just had something very odd - for him at least - thrown in his face that would make him keep his hands off even if it had been his life's goal to talk to the princess again.

 

That had been his smile. His smile that made grown men back down and want to run immediately. His sort of `run now before I remembered why I thought you were interesting enough to play with' grin, and the `play with' was meant in the same way a cat might play with a catnip covered mouse. He'd been told it wasn't exactly a fun thing to be held under that, and shit, they hadn't been kidding. He had a pretty good idea of what kind of shit had to happen to you for you to earn that sort of intensity, and while he was familiar enough with his own demons, he had no interest in meeting someone else's.

 

Besides, he thought grimly as he started running outright, taking a few odd turns and shortcuts incase they decided to follow him for some reason after all. I figured out what I was after. Nobody's going to get any closer to Little Lena than they would if Heero was in charge. She's safe as she can be. Well, probably, anyway; Heero had tried to kill her… how many times? Not the point, though. He didn't think this guy was really much like Heero, he reminded him way too much of himself… which, honestly, was a whole lot creepier.

 

If the world had a chance of turning out to be a decent place again, though… Relena was definitely going to be able to pull it off, with that guy backing her. He had the feeling it might be a good idea to kinda… not go near them for at least six months. Or a year. He might still be recognized by then for the lookie stunt he'd just done, and he did not want to piss that guy off.

 

His bus back to Amsterdam, ending his little fieldtrip, would be coming in soon… he'd had more than enough excitement for the day.

 

-

***

-

 

Jake rolled his eyes slightly as the kid bolted like a bunny, relaxing, which let the boys know they could relax too.

 

Training to follow orders based on body language was the most effective style he had ever come across.

Relena looked mildly amused and ever so slightly mortified. “Oh geeze… You didn't have to scare him that bad, Jake.”

 

“That was the second time he came snooping,” Jake argued. “If he had the nerve to try twice, I wanted to be sure he knew what we thought of a third try.” In all honesty all he could have wanted was an autograph or to shake Relena's hand or something, but they had escaped the public eye for a reason.

 

She rolled her eyes but accepted his stance on it, instead returning to the topic from before he had noticed the brat wasn't going away. “So?”

 

He shrugged a little. Her request for advice and help on going home for a while had surprised him, but she was far from out of bounds; given the pure insanity of the past week, it made sense, especially since she had gotten an e-mail from Dorothy this morning saying that she was back in Brussels for a few days as well. As much as they bickered, the two definitely missed each other dearly when parted for long, and it was in the best interest in both women's health that they have time to recuperate.

 

They weren't far… Security wasn't much of a fear with the element of surprise going for them, the information wouldn't be leaked to the public until she was already safe and sound back in the compound, probably not until the morning after she had arrived. The next two days of the tour were supposed to take place in Switzerland and Austria, but so long as they sent notice right away and paid for the full deposits on hotels that had been booked while rebooking under the same deal it should be fine; meetings could be rearranged, and it might even be feasible to circulate a rumor that she had been called back, not that she had decided to disrupt her tour out of mental and physical exhaustion. Her brother's power and tempestuous - at least in the eyes of many who were against him, which was, to note, a rather large population of the world at large - position of authority would likely make the rumors start themselves without any help, really.

 

Besides, it was good that she felt okay to tell him this, and admit that she might need a break long before a breakdown could actually start to form itself into a reality. She had a good sense of her own limits, and it was incredibly nice to be working with someone who knew when she needed to take a step back and shake it off before entirely new issues rose up.

 

“We could swing it around for tonight,” he decided, looking back to her decisively. “If that's what you want, we can get it done before nightfall.” And Relena was such a forthright individual that it just made him feel good when she gave him a grateful smile.

 

-

***

-

 

L-1

“I guess it's a good thing we decided to come here when we did,” Marie decided, focusing on her feet as she walked. “It's probably a lot harder to get off the planet now than it was a couple weeks ago.” Odin made an agreeing sort of noise from behind her. After she had been followed, they had decided, especially with all they were hearing about the food crisis and the weather growing colder, that they could move their search to the colonies for a while; it wasn't like they had any real idea where her mother really was, so so long as they checked off where they had already been, it didn't matter what order they traveled around to places in. It was nice to be here where it was warmer, though, that was for sure… she wondered if maybe her mom had had the same idea; maybe they'd find her sooner after all.

 

Thinking another minute, she finally said what had been racing through her head for a couple weeks now. “Why was he alone, though? And why did he want to wait until we were alone to confront me?” She couldn't make any sense of that; she knew that it had never become public knowledge that she was involved in her grandfather's attempted revolt, probably because she had gone missing and that looked bad, but finding her would make the Regime look good, right? Or, there was no reason to even give a major explanation in a crowd, he could have just tried to take her and shown his badge, or something… Unless maybe he didn't have one… So who was he?

 

“I'm not sure,” her brother returned after a moment, keeping a steady pace behind her. “Try not to look down; your balance is good enough that you can do this without thinking, once you stop being afraid.”

 

“I'm not afraid,” she argued as she looked up, focusing down the wall they were walking on. They were in one of the nicer neighborhoods in the area, with solid block walls, and were walking along the top of them. There was a park on one side, and people's back yards on the other. It really wasn't that narrow of a path, but they were at least ten feet up… “I'm just a little nervous is all,” she declared.

 

He grunted as if to say `same difference' but she decided not to respond to that. She was balanced fine, and he'd made her discover just about every way she could fall and not hurt herself the last two months, to the point where, just like he'd wanted, it was an automatic reaction to break her falls… So even if she managed to fall here she doubted there'd be any problems, but the idea just made her stomach drop.

 

She had the sinking feeling though that once she admitted she was just as good at walking up here as anything else the next thing he'd try was pushing her off.

 

After a minute, he went back to her question. “I don't think he was a member of the Regime. I'm not sure who else would know of your involvement in Dekim's plot, but his actions don't match what I would think the Regime would do…” He paused before admitting, “And when I checked their databases, I couldn't find anything about the incident, which means that either it wasn't reported, or they don't know about it. In either case, it means another group was involved.”

 

Marie was proud of herself for not stumbling when she heard that. “You hacked their databases?”

 

“That was why I wanted to stop at that café,” he admitted. “If the action was tracked, I didn't want to risk our laptop's IP; they've seen through my rerouting of addresses before.” She swore she could hear him frowning. “Whoever they have on security now though isn't the same watch dog as before. It was… much easier to do than last year.”

 

“Can you teach me all that?” she asked excitedly. He was talking about it like it was the easiest thing in the world, and she knew that was how he was getting their money too, more or less. Odin knows how to do some of the coolest stuff.

 

He seemed almost surprised, and started walking faster as he considered; not really thinking about it, since he was behind her, she picked up the pace as well, matching him, and even risking a glance over her shoulder to see the thoughtful look on his face. “If you want to,” he decided eventually. “I'm not sure where we would start, though…”

 

She frowned. “We need to be someplace special to do it?”

 

The noise he made was vaguely amused sounding. “No… I just don't really remember learning how to do it,” he explained. “I just… know it.”

 

“Oh.” She could feel her face heating up. Well, that was embarrassing. “Well, you can just explain while I watch and try it, right?”

 

“Mm,” he returned positively. “It just might take some time.” He made another thinking noise and she waited for him to figure out what he wanted to say without slowing… only to find have her feet swept out from under her, and his hand push her unceremoniously in the direction of the park.

 

Her heart leapt into her throat but she was reacting before she really thought about it, curling into a ball and rolling as soon as her shoulder touched the ground… and realized as she kept rolling that she hadn't taken any of the impact on her body at all, just rolled it off ,despite the extra speed from the fall. Coming quickly back to her feet, she turned to glare at him, because that really was not funny… to see him squatting down on the wall - which was actually more like six feet tall now, she realized - elbows resting on his knees, smiling one of those rare, full-fledged smiles for her. “Good; perfect, even,” he announced. “And only your first try, too.”

 

And she just didn't have room to be annoyed at him anymore, with how happy she was at that. She found herself grinning back at him as he launched himself towards her and did his own tumble. “With heights,” he explained seriously, gesturing back towards the wall, “You want to move sure you're moving forward as much as you are down; it's easier to control the inertia that way and not absorb the force; that's why I pushed you. You can land straight down if you have to, lowering the power you land at with a few flips, but it's hard on the knees.”

 

She nodded a little, absorbing what he'd said as she looked back at the wall, her heart starting to race a little more as she wished she knew how to get back up it… so she could do that. It had been kinda scary, but… Oh man, that was fun!

 

He noticed her attention and he tilted his head in confusion for a moment, looking back at the wall himself for a moment before it clicked. “Aa.” Gesturing for her to follow, he walked back over… and started to explain again. Practically skipping, she followed, listening closely; Odin didn't like explaining something more than once.

 

-

***

-

 

Amsterdam

“Okay, just give us a few days,” Melissa returned warmly. “I'm sorry, normally I'd be able to give you a better estimate, but this is delicate enough that I'd rather my partner do the work; he has more experience with circuitry, and he had to take care of a few things out of town. He should be back tonight, but he probably won't be able to start work on it until tomorrow. If you give us a number to reach you at, or come by tomorrow around noon, Kasey should be able to give you all of the details.” They had gotten a little cell phone with a terrible minutes plan and voicemail for their shop, and used it sparingly; no one was terribly interested in using up their minutes either, with the economy as it was, so it worked pretty decently. Most people just came in in person anyhow, especially since they were apparently becoming rated as doing some of the fastest as well as the least pricey work in town. And they had attracted attention in the first place, of course, because of Kay's top notch handiwork.

 

Her customer assured her that he would do that, giving her a phone number for reference but saying that he would be by tomorrow afternoon and to not bother calling unless he didn't show up by six. She nodded easily and finished out the work-slip with the number, waving as her customer exited, then standing up to move the computer off the desk so she could carry it upstairs. Kay wouldn't want to work on some kind of delicate electronics in the same spot she'd been working on a car all day… that was just asking for trouble, with all the axle grease and fluids she'd managed to get everywhere.

 

She sighed, thinking about how much she was going to have to scrub and clean once she got a chance… She was getting paid only to do the bare minimum to keep the poor thing running, not to fix some of the problems that had it leaking all over the place until she realized and moved it back out onto the street. She was sorely tempted to do it anyway just to save herself more mess and say it was on the house, maybe she'd get lucky and the grouch who brought it in would recommend them to someone else, but she didn't think anything would make him happy about the junk heap. And no wonder, with how far gone the poor engine was…

 

Coming back down the stairs, she glanced at the clock. Mm, Amos should be here soon… School had just let out, and since the state had forced him out of the church two days ago, he had come straight to the shop from his classes and done some homework at the desk, putting it aside at the odd customer coming in after the normal work hours. He was still obviously upset and had taken even more strongly to Kay, but he was making the most of it. When they had all rearranged their rooms when going completely underground back in the den, Tiede had won out on a gamble with dice for one of the larger rooms to himself, and had generously offered to share with the newcomer, who was only about eighteen months younger than him. He should finish meshing in soon enough, though some of the older boys' coarse humor certainly had him blushing.

 

Kay, meanwhile, had gone on some sort of trip to southern Germany and wouldn't be back at the den until late that night. She wasn't planning on waiting up for him if he wasn't home by midnight, though; she had a full day tomorrow. She certainly wasn't going to begrudge him the new energy and happiness he seemed to have gained since finally telling the Father his identity, but not everyone could play hookie for two days to go try to see the princess in an area that couldn't link him to his hometown, if push came to shove. Chances were that Relena Peacecraft would be in the Netherlands quite a bit in the coming times, after what had happened, but she was pretty sure that he'd be refusing to even go outdoors in their own neighborhood when that happened. He had this whole muttered rant she'd only heard half of about chances and risks and jinxing…

 

Melissa shook her head a little, smiling a bit, as she considered her boyfriend's quirks. He was paranoid as hell sometimes, but really, she could hardly begrudge him any of it; half the time he was right, after all. That and she knew enough about the war to realize that paranoia had to have saved him more than once or twice, so it was well earned as well as largely accurate. Besides, she kinda liked the incredibly serious side he could show for it… His caution was annoying sometimes, but the extreme thoughtfulness was a nice contrast to his otherwise devil may care attitude. She'd take the paranoid part of him over the serious, bloody reaper any day, however hard being near the latter had made her blood pump before… Danger had a certain allure sometimes, but she'd been raised to know better.

 

Sighing, she started to roll up her sleeves, thinking to have another look under that car… depending on exactly what was losing fluid and how, it might be easy enough to fix to just be worth the hassle… Once Amos was here, she probably needed to clean, since he'd be able to handle anyone new coming in. Then tomorrow Kay would regale her with stories about Relena, especially since he'd opened up enough to admit some of the crazier details of stories from the war… and she was curious about just what the girl was like. They'd settle back into their routine after he did some extra work to catch up… and even if things were looking harder, life wasn't too shabby, not really. Then again, maybe it was just that nothing seemed half as frightening after that summer that never came, where she had lost what innocence she had left after the war, where she had learned the meaning of desperation…

 

Nothing could ever be that bad again, at least, and anything else… they'd all find a way to make it work. She and Luc and Shov had before, and they would again, with Kay this time, and all the others they'd somehow gathered up along the way. They'd come pretty damn far, and it wasn't like they were going to let anything wreck their lives after all that.

 

-

***

-

 

China

Wufei couldn't help but smirk a little as he watched Yue Zi frown, considering her next move.

 

Somehow, visiting over at Kailì's house had become a common occurrence, sometimes with Shui coming along as well, though not too often - Shui was a complete shut-in. He generally had to be physically drug out of their room to be sociable, with few exceptions.

 

Kailì, however, ever since that day when he had verbally and even physically attacked him, had gone out of his way to repeatedly trick or entice him into joining his family in this or that activity, most often dinner. Though, that one in particular had more to do with enticement; Kailì hadn't been lying when he said his wife was a most excellent cook, and it was hard to ignore an invitation like that when staring at the cafeteria dinner special, debating its nutritive value as well as edibility.

 

Then, once he actually came to know the man, Kailì reminded him more and more of a few of his professors, from before he had been called home to marry the Long heir… And while to some degree Xiu Juan's sharp attitude depressed him, it reminded him more strongly of Meilan's similarly sharp tongue and actions than of her death. The easy way Kailì returned his wife's insults with playful banter utterly bewildered him at first, but he was beginning to become accustomed to it now, and to the youngest two girls' adoring attention to practically his every word… It was an odd sort of ego boost that he was still trying to decide if he appreciated at all or not. Kailì's smug smirk when he noticed Wufei redden or fluster under the attention didn't improve his opinion of the whole situation a single iota, but it did make him more determined to keep his composure.

 

And then, of course, there was Yu Zi, Kailì's fifteen-year-old that he was playing xiànqí with for the third time this week. She certainly had her obnoxious moments, but she had as sharp a mind as her father, taking classes considered advanced for those several years older than herself… and was also startlingly good at a game he had not had the opportunity to play in years. He had not lost for nearly a year before he had quit playing the traditional Chinese version of western chess, but the girl had nearly had him last night… and it wasn't because he had gotten rusty, he was relatively sure. Thankfully, she was not star-struck by him as her sisters were, and not quite so free with insults as her mother, though he was beginning to believe that that was only because it would be incredibly rude for her to say certain things to him when playing host… a rule her mother pointedly ignored that for some reason Yu Zi tried hard to respect.

 

The game and verbal sparring was more fun than he would readily admit, especially with Kailì smirking as he was off to the side, his dark eyes twinkling. He wasn't going to let that put him off balance any more than the man's reaction to the two younger girls' hero-worship of him, however. He had been invited, and was enjoying himself on some level or another… he was not going to be deterred.

 

It didn't occur to him that that might have been the man's intent from the beginning.

 

-

***

-

 

Brussels - Night

“Why are we doing this?” Dorothy asked for what was probably, without any exaggeration, the fifteenth time.

 

“Because it's more fun,” Relena returned, having exhausted all rational answers, determined not to actually be forced to repeat herself; she suspected that was exactly what her friend was attempting to make her do. Jake snorted into his hand, though she couldn't tell how much of it was amusement and how much exasperation. Dorothy could be such a child sometimes that at points Relena wondered why she bothered… but at the same time there was something horribly addicting about her personality, and she found herself missing the Romefeller heiress horribly when they were apart for long. It was simply the way of things that once in the near vicinity of her again, the inevitable irritation again raised its head.

 

Dorothy grinned in that vaguely predatory way of hers, her eyes flitting over to Jake. “What is he doing here, then?”

 

“Ouch,” he returned with a yawn. Adopting a monotone, he continued on. “I'm hurt, Thea, truly wounded you resent my company. Besides, five yards, remember?”

 

“Thea?” she demanded in pure surprise, focusing completely on Relena's bodyguard now, and apparently with enough curiosity to ignore the new inside joke.

 

“It's the only way I can come up with to shorten it,” he returned derisively, yawning again. “I'm finally annoyed with having to say three syllables, and I will not use `Dora.'”

 

She looked amused. “Whyever not?” Her too innocent, honeyed tone was an alarm with those who knew her well.

 

Jake was not one to back down, however… and in all fairness, he knew her well enough to get away with it. “It sounds too sweet; someone might not realize you bite if they heard you called that.”

 

The girl giggled delightedly, which made Jake chuckle in turn while Relena grinned. Before they stepped through the last set of double doors into the kitchen, `Thea' leant over to peck the man on the cheek before practically skipping through the doors, leaving her friends stock still behind her.

 

Sighing a little, rubbing at his cheek, Jake admitted, “I probably deserved that…”

 

“It does suit her, though,” Relena decided, stepping forward and holding one of the doors open for him. It had been her grand idea to go get a late night snack… She'd fallen asleep almost as soon as they arrived at the compound, and had missed the scheduled dinner. Hopefully there were leftovers. She could have easily called down and had something ordered up, as Dorothy had kept insisting they ought to do, but… it was nice to walk down yourself, sometimes. It had been a while since she'd put together her own food, honestly, and that was surreal enough of a realization that she instantly wanted to do it.

 

And, much to Dorothy's amusement, Relena honestly couldn't remember the last time Jake had been more than a handful of yards away from her at a time, beyond knowing it had definitely happened a few times during her first tour. In turn, he had noted, `Well, that's sorta the point” before shooing them out the door and briefly explaining to one of the night guard boys what they were up to and dashing after them, muttering something about a five yard limit to Dorothy when she gave him that look, which sent her into giggles the same way his explanation of `Thea' just had.

 

His ability to spin Dorothy around in pure distraction and pleasure only reaffirmed his ability to play people the way he wanted, and on some level that disturbed her… but at the same time, she could see the genuine happiness he got from her reactions. She had been near him so long - Within five yards, she reminded herself with an internal snicker - that she could tell the difference between the moods and expressions he used to placate others or hide what he was usually feeling - which was usually some degree of irritation - and his genuine feelings. He truly relaxed by her, which she noted only somewhat sourly that he hadn't done at all at first, letting his guard down and letting his mood fly… and it was interesting even now to see the difference between how he held himself when it was just him and her, or maybe the two of them and David, versus when he was in Dorothy's company. His behavior and tone changed completely in the presence of her other guards as well, of course, but he was their superior, so she hadn't given it much thought. With Dorothy, he… was very much the tolerant older brother, masking the emotions he doubted she would appreciate and making an effort to keep the atmosphere pleasant.

 

It rankled a little, looking back, to realize exactly how much he had done the same thing with her before her first tour. He had begun to change around then… it had accelerated abruptly after what happened with the children in Munich, and her saving the little boy that she had gathered looked something like his dead little brother, but that hadn't been the beginning. It had started when he became her guard, only it had been… incredibly slow.

 

There were points of difference that had taken her time to realize, because she had so long been outside the strictest definition of rules… Jacob Miller had more layers of `shyness' and dealing with strangers than David Mitchell, they were just less obvious. It had really been meeting Jack, seeing how guarded her blonde colonel was around him, that had allowed her to eventually piece together all the oddities.

 

Jake didn't touch people.

 

Well, he didn't like to in general, at least, and would not initiate it unless they had passed layers and layers of… personal security, as it were. He didn't draw attention to it by shying away from any physical attention, but now she could tell an increase of tension even when he shook the hand of a stranger, and she had the feeling that the boundaries he would allow were as precisely calculated to be within the bounds of average polite and friendly behavior as she had realized his clothing was, a week ago. He knew exactly how to hide in plain sight, and how to… tolerate… what he didn't enjoy to the degree that no one noticed the deviation.

 

Well, not unless he had allowed them quite close, at least.

 

He had first broken that past boundary with her when she had questioned his want to be her bodyguard, and as far as she could remember, he had done so without any of the telltale compunctions, signs of irritation, she had learned to recognize after the disaster with his father. Children seemed largely exempt from any of those rules, probably due to the reminder of the his lost brother.

 

She had recognized, after Munich, that their relationship had changed drastically, but it had taken time to realize the details beyond the fact that while before he had supported her, the door had been opened for that to become a two way street. That had been cemented when his birthday rolled around two weeks later, and it was only now that she could really appreciate how deep a measure of trust it was that stepping into his personal space calmed her friend. Of course, he had ceased to shy away from any kind of physical attention long before that, and had even begun showing signs of welcoming the touch and outright friendship he allowed David Mitchell, but the full significance had been lost on her at the time. He also didn't hide his emotions from her the way he did most, now.

 

And most importantly, as being near both him and Dorothy again was making her realize, he didn't strictly cater to her every whim the same way anymore. Well, he did, but… he didn't, exactly. He did it to a degree with Mitchell too, so it was definitely just a part of his personality and not what he did to keep his overly friendly image, but it wasn't this overly sweet nonsense that he spun for Dorothy.

 

Then again, he had never been entirely like that with her in the first place; she remembered all too well the pointed look he had given her not long after they had first met and he noted that he was heading to bed, silently telling her get out before even unlacing his shoes. That, at least, was probably more of an honor because he realized she would simply give him the respect he asked for and leave the topic alone. Though he certainly had been embarrassed to be caught shirtless by her in the barracks not too long after that had begun working together.

 

She wondered how much of his willingness to keep that state of dress even without her there had to do with his degree of comfort, and how much to do with the expected relax in state of dress. She had never seen him shirtless again, for all that the tight tank tops he wore under everything left little to the imagination, but that might have been from the cold, or from not wanting to fluster her as easily as modesty.

 

“Well, at the very least, I know there's always soup,” Jake noted, looking around. “But I have no idea where to look, here… normally I always just went to the mess hall when I was hungry in the middle of the night…”

 

Relena made a face; part of being here was avoiding seeing too many people all at once. She didn't want to have to deal with a public image just now… But she had already made as much clear to her bodyguard, or he would have led them to the mess, not here.

 

Any speculation about exactly what they were going to do, however, was cut off by an alarm sounding… one that didn't stop right away, or announce that it was only a drill. After a moment, the siren was joined by yellow emergency lights…

 

Relena frowned. Aren't those usually red? “Yellow?” she asked in spite of herself. Does that mean it's less serious?

 

“Red is for fires, or accidental but serious alerts,” Jake informed them in a cool monotone, his eyes snapping around the room in an a calculating way as he lock and barred the doors they had just come through with brisk efficiency. “Siren with no light changes means it's not worthy of evacuation, but be on alert and lock down separate sectors until further notice.”

 

She wasn't sure she liked this unnerving composure he was displaying now, and Dorothy's eyes were wide, though that probably had more to do with him pulling a gun out of somewhere in his baggy jeans and handing it to her before he made sure to lock the other entrances to the kitchens. Relena managed to keep her heart rate steady as he began hastily opening drawers, obviously looking for something, and spoke again. “Yellow, however, is a panic button… Pull out the stops, drain the tubs, worry about your reserves at a later date. A definite attack, possible invasion.” The continued formality of his tone that she had never heard him use further chilled her, and her heart began to pound a little harder. “Did your mother ever teach you how to cook, Relena?”

 

She nodded before realizing he wasn't facing her. “The basics,” she affirmed quickly, wondering where the question had come from.

 

“Did she have you do prep work? Meat, vegetables?” His tone didn't change; if that was any indicator, he seemed to have no true interest in the answer.

 

Why does any of this matter?! “Often,” she agreed, her mind spinning.

 

“Good. Mrs. Darlian was a sensible enough woman to use the best, easiest tool for any job. You'll be relatively familiar with the balance.” She was about to ask him what on earth he meant by that when he finally stopped apparently having found what he had been looking for. When she saw, however, her heart seemed to leap into her throat as he brandished it.

 

A chef's knife.

 

As she froze, he quickly approached her, then stepped behind so his chest was to her back, his arms aligned with hers as he wrapped her right hand around the handle of the foot-long blade, the sharp side facing away from her. Gently but firmly holding her by the wrist, he continued on in that too calm tone as he brought the knife - the weapon - down to her side then upwards and across her body in a slashing motion, then, with her fist nearly level with her shoulder, a different slash in a horizontal line across her body at chest height. “If you try anything other than that,” he informed her coolly, repeating the motions with her a few more times, then one last with far more speed, “Use both hands.” Stepping away, he retrieved a second gun from his pants and took a second chef's knife for himself, though she knew he had other knives on him…

 

He's planning for the worst, she realized, starting to shake as he handed yet another blade to a shocked Dorothy, though the she was reaching equilibrium far faster than Relena was, she knew. He wants as many weapons on hand as possible… And considering his confidence and how thoroughly he had protected her while fighting with Jack, the fact that he now wanted her at least somewhat armed terrified her all the more. Oh God… This was serious… this was more than serious. She had asked to come home for a night, and it had to be this one night that the safety of the compound was lost and it instead became a battlefield…

 

Jake looked back to her, head tilting slightly, and the ice in his eyes melting a little to make room for obvious concern… And as hard as it was to do, she grit her teeth and nodded as smoothly as she could manage, moving to follow him as he approached one of the doors he had just locked, but not the one they had come in through. Dorothy moved to take up the rear and he nodded an approval at both of them before leading them out into who knew what…

 

Had the alarm been triggered immediately, as it should have been? Did they have time, or had it been delayed somehow, as any enemy would try to do? She remembered how the alarm had not sounded when Duo had come for Heero in the hospital while she was trying to talk Sally into releasing `her beau' until he had literally blown away the entire wall of the high security room in the military ward… But the gundam pilots were the best, weren't they? Whoever this was, they couldn't be as good as Duo and Heero, Quatre and Wufei, as Trowa, could they?

 

She tried to force her breathing to be calm as she faithfully trusted Jake to lead them away from the danger as best she could. All she could hope for now was that it was not too far gone already… and that Jake was enough to protect them from whatever had attacked.

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Geeze, I know, hell of a cliffhanger, but hey, sometimes they just work so well… Hopefully the next bit won't take nearly so long to write, but that'll probably be helped along by the fact that I'm pretty sure it won't be THIRTY-THREE pages long, not counting author's notes. My old record for chapter length out of anything I've ever written was thirty-two…

 

Thoughts? Come on, guys, tell me what you thought? A damn lot of development here, and I think just about everyone's finally more or less leveled out in terms of personality and mental state, which gets me all excited, especially in the case of Duo… So, come on, review? Maybe? Please? Reviews usually get me more excited and motivated and while I can't guarantee it, they usually speed up the writing process overall…

 

Either way, until next time, I suppose. Hope you enjoyed it!