Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Survival ❯ Pandemonium ( Chapter 36 )

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

Pandemonium

Heyo, and here I thought getting this out would be fast… I'm so sorry this took so long, but it was fighting me every inch of the way, and eventually I just had to break it into two chapters to make it work at all. In order to make sure I didn't leave you all hanging again, however, I wrote most of chapter thirty-seven before posting this. This chapter picks up exactly where the last left off, so if you took a break between them, I would really suggest at least skimming through chapter thirty-five.

A question, SableCold, seeing as you didn't leave a way for me to respond to you… What on earth makes you think Duo's life is going to continue on this happy flawless route? I always rather thought that life often comes in fits and starts of good and utter shit… Resiliency, I've found, is sometimes a thing that has to be nurtured and grown over time. I appreciate the feedback, though.

I've had this question posed a few times now and I think it needs to be addressed; I never really saw this story as being “Duo-centric.” I'm actually extremely attached to all the characters and all the storylines… the problem is more that they tend to happen at different times; Duo's started first in terms of timeline, whereas now Relena and Co.'s storyline is running fairly even with Heero/Odin and Marie/Marlé's, etc. It's just as the story runs. I do have more on that, but I'll stop dragging on and put it at the end.

Now that I've explained far too much, as usual… let's run, I suppose.

December 4th 197 - Monday - Amsterdam - Roughly 7:00am

Relena stared at her phone.

He… he'd called. He had tried to call her, and he never called her when he thought she was on base. He had a tendency to wander all over the place looking just to avoid the phone, even though he knew she always carried it; she had a tendency to do the same thing. Phones were too impersonal, at least when you could talk face to face… It was one of the reasons he thankfully hadn't pushed as hard as he could have for her to do video conferences instead of traveling the continent…

“Lena?”

Jake was frowning at her, and instead of answering she simply held up the phone with its little reading of `Missed call: Milliardo Peacecraft' and watch his face go from curiously worried to sheepishly caught out. “Huh…”

“I can't call him back,” she reminded him quickly.

“Yeah, if he's calling you that means he's trying to find you, and the most time you'd get out of that goose chase is maybe twenty minutes, if anything at all.”

She gave him an annoyed look. “Obviously. And I can hardly risk him giving direct orders for you all to take me back; either we would have to leave or he might court martial you.” She was fully aware that leaving the base as they had put her guards on thin ice, bringing them out here with her, and had every intention of forcing her brother to lay all of the responsibility on her should trouble come of it. Technically all of her guard answered to her, not Milliardo, but he had more power than her and could overrule what she ordered.

The colonel gave her an amused look, though she could see from the way he was standing, relaxed and not quite in her space but close enough to smell her, from the soft turn of his lips even as he gave her a more raucous smirk, that he was grateful that she was trying to protect him. “You really think Zechs can get away with court martialing me?” Most of what her friend ever said was in his body language, though she had seen him mimic it for others to make them like or fear him quickly without them fully realizing what had set them off before… she knew the blonde man was possibly the best liar she had ever met… But at the same time, he was genuine. Since Madrid she had learned to always tell when he was true or playing, somehow or other… And he was her friend.

She was lucky to have a friend like him. She was almost positive that he had originally sought her out on purpose, now, that he had poked and played with her the same way she saw him play with nearly everyone else he interacted with, but she couldn't find a reason to be upset over it. It was hardly a crime to get to know a person and see if you wanted to work with and just spend the time with them, to see if you could make allies as well as friends and gain something from a relationship the same way you gave to it. They were close now, and she could understand why he had kept his distance… and manipulative starting motives or not, she was glad for him having come into her life. Jake was subtly manipulative as a part of his nature; it was likely the first way he had learned to get along with anyone at all after his father took him from his uncle and brother. However strange and twisted his childhood may have been under his uncle, to have known all the things he did, he had loved his family and had no impression of ever being mistreated.

She also couldn't say she really minded his manipulations, either; she could understand the goal behind them, or at least the short-term end of it. She had an idea or two as for what the long-term might be, but wasn't ready to push her luck yet.

He had shown up in her life and rudely slammed her back into the real world even as he tried to ready her for it emotionally. He had ever so gently forced her to grow more quickly than she might have on her own, had helped curb what she could see now could easily have turned into naïve mistakes, helped her learn to trust herself again after everything at Libra, helped her access and learn everything she needed to accomplish what she needed done. He had been a compelling guide and companion these past nine months… nine months that had felt like years, so much had changed.

She wondered how much she might have done without him at her side. He had made such a difference, changed her plans and hopes so much, made them real instead of a hopeless plan she tried to construct in order to get something done, to stop feeling useless. She had had ideas before but had been without direction, without the means and confidence to do it, fearing her brother's shadow… And fearing well, for she likely would have been caught out by now if she had not begun to inherit some of her bodyguard's finesse. She had known that the confidence was required, she had grown up in politics after all, but it was one thing to know, and another entirely to feel safe enough, accomplished enough, to believe in yourself.

“Daydreaming?”

She smiled a little in response to his pleasant expression and slightly canted head, for all that his blue eyes pierced. He was curious… Probably thinking she had some idea of what to do about her brother, or at least that she was trying to piece it out. Or there was that hint of impatience, suggesting that if her head really was up in the clouds that it was damn well time to remove it because they were about to have an enraged warrior prince on their trail. That or learn to `dream and think at the same time', as he sometimes claimed to do.

“How much can we move up the schedule without too much upset?” she asked, half thinking out loud, half wanting his input.

“Question for the locals,” he dismissed, leaning back against the wall. They were in a little meeting room off some official's office, presumably for her to organize and stay out of sight until her appearance. Honestly, she would have been happier with a hotel room or at least a lounge, something with a soft place to sit, but that had not occurred to the locals, apparently, and she was loathe to hurt any feelings grown out of good intentions, cranky and worried or not.

“Get someone on it,” she decided. “As much as can be afforded without killing the effect; I want to be good and busy when he tries to storm in.”

Jake let out an amused sort of chortle and motioned for her to stand away from the door while he opened it and beckoned in the signing talk the soldiers sometimes used. Rome and Lincoln both came in, looking curious; Lin was trying to tuck the newspaper he'd been reading into the back of his waistband, presumably where it would be a little more difficult for his commanding colonel to grab and smack him with it for reading on the job.

Relena shook her head a little and gestured for him to hand it to her; while Jake had a point about paying attention, she liked the fact that Lin made an effort to get a solid understanding of the news every morning, international and local, and that he would share with her. Fixing her primary bodyguard with a look as she took the paper, seeing as he was giving her a pointed look, she said, “Don't be mean; it's not like he does it when he's alone on shift, or as if he's a deep reader.” Lin was one of those people who could hold a perfectly normal conversation while reading, never missing a beat.

The blonde colonel gave her a look as if to say `Did you really just try to pull that on me?' and shifted to cross his arms, hips ajar, giving them all a tolerantly amused sort of expression. “Obviously; I'm not blind.” He darted over fast as lightning and slugged a fist into Lincoln's stomach, making him double over and gasp. Rolling his eyes and looking them all over again, he finished with, “But so long as he can't fend me off while holding a damn piece of paper, let alone reading it, he's just going to have to keep trying.”

Ah. Of course, Jake was generally always working with these men he had chosen as her guards, trying to teach them… teach them the same way she had asked him to start teaching her, once her arm was healed.

The thought was mildly alarming, in all reality… but Jake was obviously an effective teacher, and the reality of the world was upon them. Ignorance may be bliss, but knowledge is power and ability is finesse, the thing that makes the difference between what is wished for and what is done.

“At any rate, Zechs is on our trail and possibly the warpath, so I'm going to go stir things up and see what we can counter with, but Lena needs to stay here. People trying to crowd her will just cause more trouble, if we can't pull this off.” He met her eyes and smiled in his natural, easy confident way. “Call me if you work out something else, and I'll keep you posted. Dorothy's going to be calling one of us in a minute, I suspect; let's keep the information spread between us. It'll take him time to get here if he's decided to play parent, so we've got something to work with.”

“And when he catches us?” Jerome asked soberly. “I know you planned for it, but what repercussions are we going to find ourselves in?” With the `we' he had gestured at himself and Lincoln, referring to the rest of the guard.

“I'm taking responsibility,” Relena told him. “It was my decision, and you were following orders down your chain of command.”

“And if he doesn't like that one as much as he should,” Jake added, his playfulness gone for a moment, “Then I'll take responsibility.” He tilted his head slightly. “There's a fairly good chance he already has the idea to pin all the blame on me, and it'll be like how I kept you from questioning before; he believes in that kind of command and loyalty. Though we'd still be best trying to put it all on the princess' plate…” He smirked then, turning to her. “I could back our story on a polygraph, that might do the trick. A slap on the wrist for us both, a few lectures, and he'd probably even give me more power to `make you be sensible when you got another of these ideas'. By the time we pull some bullshit again he'll have realized doing that was a mistake because I'd just use it to advantage, but he's likely to not realize I like you better than him just yet.”

He said all of the last in such a delighted epiphany way that Relena just stared for a moment, the implications hitting home more than the words themselves. It wasn't as though she didn't know that Jake simply did whatever he liked by now and just found a way to get away with it, or that he was such a comfortable liar that-

“You can lie to a lie detector?” Lincoln whispered, looking like he was trying to decide if he was horrified or awed.

Rome had his eyes narrowed as he smirked. “I knew it… That was how you got free of the Torraines case, wasn't it?” When Jake only chuckled, the other guard shook his head. “Cassidy owes me fifty.” Jake just snickered more.

Relena wanted to put her head in her hands or scream, she couldn't decide which. She remembered her father talking about how the only lead that came up for investigating the assassination of Minister Torraines of Financial Affairs of the Alliance had turned out to have an absolutely flawless polygraph test for a young freelance soldier on vacation despite all the coincidences lining up… “You killed Torraines?” she found herself asking quietly.

Jake frowned. “It didn't go like I'd planned or they never would have found enough to question me in the first place.” His frown deepened, and he took a step closer, looking deep into her eyes. “You don't know what he was doing, do you?” He shook his head slightly. “You never plan to kill someone without knowing the whole story, Lena… That's how you end up hating yourself for the rest of your life.” He looked away. “Even not to do with killing, it's the same rule… know what it is you're doing, and what you're not, and make sure you're going to be okay with that down the line.” Meeting her eyes again, jamming his hands in his pockets, he offered her a bittersweet sort of smile. “Not that you need to be told, but follow your heart and make sure you can live without regret. Even if no one remembers or cares after you're gone, you'll have your own peace; too many host a colony-full of demons from their pasts.”

That eased the tightness in her chest, even as she knew she would be asking him to explain everything about Torraines to her later, to better understand the crueler side of the world everyone had always tried to shield her from… Jake would always protect her, but he never offered a blindfold.

Hopefully her lessons might come easier than Jake's had; she could see the pain etched into his bones, into her brother's, in Heero and Duo and Quatre… She could see that they had learned everything the hard way, instead of having a teacher. All that work and pain should come to help something, to ease them… Mistakes and horrors of life were things to be learned from, but they could be learned second-hand, if the student cared enough.

She already lived for no regret… her father had taught her the same principle. And she remembered Heero after he had killed all those pacifists on the OZ shuttle, when he had been tricked into thinking it was all those who wanted more war on board instead. She had sat and talked with the Noventas some time after Heero had offered a gun to Silvia in an attempt to escape his personal demons and make reparations for what he had done, knowingly or not. She had hunted him down in Antarctica to give him the letter from Mrs. Noventa just to try to offer him some peace from the self-loathing he had gained after waking up from his self-destruction and finding himself alive after his - third? - suicide attempt since she'd met him.

Jake was looking to her, waiting for a response… his face was neutral, his eyes sad, his body worried. She offered him a smile and moved forward to peck him on the cheek. “I trust you,” she reaffirmed, as much for her sake as for his. Smiling more brightly, she teased, “Now get gone and do my bidding, Colonel.”

He grinned back, looking relieved, and tapped her on the nose with one finger in play. “Of course, Princess.” And with that, he dashed out the door.

And before the two men still in the room with her could comment on their antics, her phone rang again. Looking at the caller ID, she sighed and hit the connect: Dorothy. “Hey Thea,” she greeted with a sigh, moving to sit down. “Just how deep in are we?”

***

Devil's Den - Roughly 8:00am

“Boog!”

Adelheid eyed the man who had burst into the front door warily, taking in the uniform and face - it was one she knew, but after everything with Gust and more than a few reports of similar incidents coming in… Adelheid van der Linde had joined the administrative end of the militia, never having been the fighting type, but it was a good job and it had good hours, so she still had time to work up the evening meals for the thirty or so people in the Devil's Get… Today was her day off, so she was actually in the middle of planning out lunch, especially since most of it would go into the fridge for everyone's snack food for the next week or so, as fancy took them. Food crisis or no, they were more than well off in that direction, even insofar as variety; she'd made sure they bought good spices too, and cycled them enough that by the time something got monotonous it could be switched out…

She did recognize Olin Webb, however, and he didn't look threatening, despite obviously being winded. “You better not have brought trouble here,” she snapped. Olin wasn't the type to mean anything bad, but he wasn't the brightest crayon in the box either. And Boog was Valio's last name, and Val was a fighter, one of the ones Kay took with him to rescue the Schbeiker girl.

Olin gave her an annoyed look. “The speech got moved up from half before noon to ten,” the man managed to get out between pants. “We need more men on duty, especially with what our more stupid brethren in uniform across the city have been doing to try to handle their gang problems, we don't know how antsy the crowd's going to be. I know you don't like other people in here, but can I at least sit on the couch while someone tells him he needs to get his uniform on and run with me?”

Adelheid frowned, then looked around; Anika had been listening, and Adelheid wanted more detail. “Go tell Val he's being called in, and he needs to be quick about it,” she told the nineteen-year-old. Anika made a face but put down the meat she was dicing, gave her hands a quick wash, and went trotting down the hall. As she was doing that, Adelheid filled a glass with water and went over to Olin. They weren't strangers, they knew each other well enough, but they weren't friends, and she didn't trust him. On the other hand, he had obviously run here, and a bit of water didn't cost anything.

“Here,” she offered, handing him the glass, which he accepted gratefully, downing it quickly.

Wiping at his mouth with his sleeve, he asked, “I'm not making trouble sitting here, am I?” He sounded worried, and maybe even remorseful.

Good. “Not so long as you stay put,” she replied, taking the glass and going to refill it. They had made it clear a long time gone that outsiders were entirely unwelcome in their home; it had been one of their first rules, that until the person gained the trust of the rest, it didn't matter if he was your most amazing boyfriend ever; you went to his place to hang out, or if he came here, he didn't leave the entry areas, and there was more than one person to keep an eye out. It may have been paranoia, but it meant that everyone knew immediately if there was someone new in their midst that wasn't supposed to be, there were no mistakes made… Chaos had been one of the fastest people they had accepted, other than the young teenagers, and there had been obvious reasons for that.

The Devils had a reputation that, while she wasn't one of those who enforced it, she was glad to be a part of. They were close-knit, they didn't take shit, and they would make sure everyone they loved made it through this world after Libra. They had started picking up and helping a few of the smaller groups forming up nearby with similar ideas even, and hopefully all of them would make it through this winter and more… hopefully this coming summer would live up to its name. Still, she made sure the message was clear to Olin as she came back and sat by him; this was her home, and by being here, he was treading on thin ice.

As he began to drink the second glass, more slowly this time, she started the questions, “What's wrong? Why did the speech get moved up?” Maybe I'll go see after all…

He shook his head, wiping at his forehead with his scarf. “No idea,” he admitted. “We were just told it was moved up and that we needed more people on scene, both because people might get a little more pissy and a show of us should calm it, and, well…” He grimaced. “You get reports from everything in the more northeast end of the city too, right?”

Adelheid frowned, then nodded; technically, she'd signed a confidentiality agreement, but it was moot if Olin already knew; he was within the scope of those she could talk to it about, roughly. “They've been having gang problems.” The kind that made those between the Devils and Slingers - before Kay had arrived and forced Cal's men to take a few steps back - look tame. And that wasn't even counting for the fact that it wasn't one-on-one, it was a group of four sizable groups - Tigers, Shadow, Cadence, and Beale - none too allied with any of the others from what she could tell.

Olin grimaced. “You'll find out soon enough, and sorry, this being your downtime and all, but someone from Tigers or Shadow killed the leader of Beale's nephew sometime in the wee hours this morning.” He took another sip of water. “They're out for blood, and they're not being too particular about whose… naturally, they can't keep it to their own area, and are playing hide-and-seek-and-kill all across the city.”

…There was a reason that what was left of the police force had long since washed its hands of anything gang related. Things like this would happen, and everyone had at least a few ex-soldiers on hand, which was more training than any civil officer could stand to hold against. Bribes had become as big of a problem as it had, further corrupting the police, purely because of those problems… yet with the city going to hell and no reliable peacekeeping force, the only option for safety was to form gangs, and the cycle repeated itself. The Slingers had been so dangerous because it was largely men shamed from their losses in the war who wanted to prove themselves… and it went downhill from there. They were in the southwest area of town, and gang relations tended to happen just by geography… it wasn't like anyone could afford a car, or had reason to.

Chaos had solved their problem with the Slingers and made their area entirely peaceful, he was the leading member keeping the new groups in line, but it wasn't as if they could loan him out to different areas of the city.

And it wasn't like she cared about all them unless it started to relate to her and hers… which it was starting to look like it might. “They've been warned out of the area already,” she found herself arguing. “The square that the princess is speaking in is unanimous neutral ground, so long as she's in it.” Relena Peacecraft was rebuilding the world little by little after her brother's grand blunder. Blood obviously wasn't everything.

“Yeah, but like I said, they changed the time,” Olin returned. “It's not like they'll know, running around like they are, and even if they do, I'm not sure Beale will give a shit, princess or no. We're getting double reinforcements to try and clear out the surrounding area while the media sets up at light speed to get it all perfect, and just the same, what happens if some of these guys are in the crowd just to be innocent, and there's more blood?” He squeezed his eyes shut. “Hell, I forgot to say, Beale's leader took it back by knifing leader of Cadence's little brother in the throat, before he realized it couldn't have been them.”

“Christ…” If that wasn't a mess, she didn't know what was.

Olin wasn't done, though. “And if that weren't enough, everyone's paranoid just from the attack on Brussels, and we have so many new people in town the administration's scared someone might get the idea to do something as stupid as a protest in the middle of it, so they want crowd security on the perimeter.” His tone showed just how stupid he thought that was. “Checking passports? Who's got a fuckin' passport in this city? And as if there's even enough of us all on duty to get all the way around a crowd like that…” He shook his head before taking another gulp of water. “They had this all planned out before, but the gang fighting's enough to make anyone spooked, not to mention they're not giving out any reason for the move-up, and people have been planning for this for months you know?” Meeting her eyes solidly, he asked, “You know any way to get the word out fast that it's been moved? It could help calm down everyone about that, if they know not to show up too late and miss everything… Most had been planning to show early just for the crowd if nothin' else, but… Yeah, you know, people like what they can see better, it'd give us all less pissed off crowd to work with the further the news gets out.”

Val and Anika were hurrying towards them now, Val's overshirt unbuttoned and him trying to do his belt, Anika carrying his scarf, hat, and daypack, running to the kitchen to fill his canteen with something hot and to get a knapsack for lunch too from what was left over from earlier… people got called in off schedule often enough and it was a general rule to make extras; someone else would eat it within a few days if they made too much. With just shy of thirty people in one house, food was a constant work in progress.

Knowing Anika, she'd probably slip him that little sliver of cake that was left in the fridge, since he'd been called out on his day off like this. It was the little things that made it easier to get through a rough day, really. She ought to warn him so he didn't crush it… well no, Val's pack had a side pocket to keep his lunch away from the rest and getting mushed, so it should be fine.

Adelheid frowned, a thought occurring to her. “Why are you here, and not Luc or Shov?” she demanded.

Olin snorted, annoyed. “They've got seniority on me, they're a solid team. They got put to work already and I was the odd man out.” Seeing Anika hand Val his pack, Olin stood and looked back to her, eyebrows raised. “So you'll help spread it around or what?”

She scowled at him. “Why wouldn't I, Webb?” Standing as well, she went to shoo them out. “Now get out of here…”

***

Brussels - Roughly 8:20am

Sighing in frustration, Milliardo finally climbed into the car, grimacing as his body protested. Nothing ever got done by the time it was supposed to be, he knew that, and imposing impossible deadlines didn't really help. That was the downside of bureaucracy, and he remembered his mother telling him as much one evening after he'd watched, wide-eyed, as his father had ranted on and on about some bill or other - though not before she had lectured the man soundly for yelling in front of his son, especially when Relena, newly born, was napping in the next room.

He was never sure if he had so many memories of his mother instead of his father because the woman had left more of an impression on him or if King Peacecraft had often been too busy to spend much time with children so young. It was a common problem with fathers versus mothers, he had learned while at Academy… But then, he had been only six years old when the man died and he was transplanted to Italy with the family of one of the family's more trusted friends even as two-year-old Relena had been taken to Japan by the Darlains.

Most people thought he had made up the name Marquise… The truth was, the Marquises had died before he turned eight, and he had insisted on keeping the name when he went to his first Alliance-assigned foster parents. He had shown promise in the fighting arts through the school they had wanted him to attend, and he had suddenly been suggested a means for his dream of bringing his home back into reality again, for revenge someday against the Alliance for what they had done to Sanc. When he was transferred again less than a year later, he had focused on school and honing his skills more than the family, and had been unsurprised to be transferred again… then later again… He had had goals by then, and he prioritized.

And he had gotten what he wanted, though there had been a point when he wondered about how happy Relena was to have lived as a Darlian, insisting her name wasn't simply Peacecraft, but Darlian-Peacecraft.

The prince sighed, putting his head back and closing his eyes, appreciating the car's soft interior as he felt the engine start up. It would be around two hours before they reached Amsterdam. Finally.

He could sleep, with seats so comfortable as this…

***

“You doing anything fun for the holidays, or are you stuck back here with us?” Dr. McGee asked.

Leia smiled at the radiologist who had just run in to slam a chest tube into her non-ventilating patient; apparently the chest film she had ordered had come back that his lungs were full of fluid and he'd decided not to waste time while everyone was clueless over in the emergency room. The patient's fate attended to, at least for the time being, the other doctor was apparently putting off going back to the reading room.

She'd been one of the lucky ones to draw her vacation time for right after the Christmas day, but she hadn't honestly decided what to do with it. The idea of staying home alone was far from appealing; Marie had been missing for five months now, and the more time that went on, the more hope she lost.

She was getting ready to throw all her common sense and doubts to the wind and contact Jake, see if he could find her. She never had before both because she wasn't sure if he wouldn't just give her daughter to the Regime `for her protection' - she doubted that one, but she hadn't talked to the boy since he was fifteen - but also because if he hadn't changed, he would already have been doing his best to find her daughter and she didn't need to hear about another let-down.

“I'm free, but I haven't been able to make up my mind for what to do,” she admitted.

Her friend grimaced a little. “Still no trace of her?”

David McGee was one of the people who knew her daughter had been out of her custody until her residency and that Marie had then vanished, though he didn't know they were really the missing members of the Barton family. When she finally found Marie they would need that anonymity to stay hidden and safe.

She refused to consider the idea that she might never find her daughter.

She let out a sigh and crushed down the despair rising in her gut. “None, I'm afraid.” …And it wasn't passing. Of course, she had never believed it would take so long to find her that she would be looking at Christmas without any idea of where Marie was. She looked up at the ceiling and found herself staring at the Christmas lights someone had strung about the halls… David wouldn't think badly of her for crying, he had two children of his own that he had already admitted he couldn't imagine losing, but that didn't mean she wanted to cry standing in the hall outside the ER.

“Leyda…” The other physician obviously wanted to be comforting but either wasn't sure how or believed that she would allow it. After a moment with her still staring up and trying to hold back tears, he sighed. “I'm sorry to bring it up.” He paused again before ploughing on. “I don't know if it would help, but I wanted to ask if you'd like to tag along with my family for the holiday. I… No one should have to be alone, and you're more than welcome, I already talked about it with Sara. The only connecting rooms the hotel we went with landed us with one more bed than we needed, so you'd only have to worry about your flight over. …Getting out of town might help, I thought.”

That's probably worth a thought… “Visiting family?” she asked carefully, looking back down to the floor. She almost had control back on her eyes…

“Mm, yes and no. We're meeting up with my brother and his family, but it's a vacation for all of us; we're going to that colony on L5 that brought in the big tree… None of the kids have ever seen a live Christmas tree, let alone one that big, and it should be a lot of hussle and bustle for them to all think it's a great adventure.”

She'd heard about that big affair in L5 a few weeks ago, actually. She had already been contemplating losing herself in a crowd of strangers, but at the same time that seemed even more desolate, when in the end she would still have to go home to sleep. But getting out of town to do it… That had a certain degree of appeal. That and she would have some structure to fall back into if she wanted with the McGee family, with it still being different enough from the holidays she had spent for the past six years that it wouldn't hurt too badly…

It certainly sounded better than hiding alone in her condo, brooding over Marie and grieving on the anniversary of Treize's death. She had decided she shouldn't let herself get so far downhill again after last year.

“What days were you planning on being there?”

***

Amsterdam - 9:15am

“Say I'm not afraid, Not anymore, I used to be calm, Now the temperature's changed, It just ain't the same…”

Kasey shook his head. One of these days he'd figure out how Melissa could stand to just belt out singing with the radio… Not that her voice wasn't nice, but she had to be the first person he'd ever known to do that… it didn't count when people sang under their breath.

Bemused but more than accepting, he turned back to the computer he was carefully dismantling, grimacing at a piece of partially charred circuitry… No wonder the thing's refusing to turn on, if any of the rest of it looks like that.

Up in the loft area - he'd needed some floor space that had no risk of oil or grease getting into whatever he set down - he didn't think much of it when the radio was turned way down. Melissa was downstairs with the garage door wide open, cleaning, and it probably just meant they had a customer. It was a little early, sure, but nobody's schedules really made sense compared to what was normal, today. When he heard her start coming up the stairs he called out, “I'll probably be at this for another two or three hours before I'm up for a different job, `Liss.”

Instead of answering him she came the rest of the way up and poked her head around the doorway. “Know any reason Relena might move up the time on her speech with next to no notice?”

He frowned. He'd never really known Relena, honestly… but she had always had reasons for what she did, especially towards the end of the war. And after all the publicity experience she'd gotten through touring the past few months, she knew what kind of waves changing her schedule like that would make… She wouldn't do it for something stupid.

It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, even though he couldn't say why. He really couldn't have cared less about listening to the princess' speech two minutes ago, but now he had the same kind of alarm going off in his head that he had long learned meant to move before you got shot. Some part of him had put two and two together and hadn't bothered to tell his brain, and he knew to trust his instincts… But he was already far enough away that it shouldn't matter if it turned dangerous…

But logic wasn't making that dread go away, even if he was right and he really was a step ahead of his subconscious for once. And it couldn't hurt… “Let's close shop and turn the radio on up here,” he decided, meeting Melissa's eyes. “It's probably all fine, but…”

“But something feels wrong,” his girlfriend finished for him. “That was what I was thinking.”

He smirked a bit and shrugged. “We're superstitious, now, aren't we?” He still felt like he was overreacting, but still… He'd survived courtesy of those gut feelings more than a few times.

Melissa grimaced a little herself even as she smiled; apparently she felt a little foolish about it too, but she'd learned the same lessons as he had over the last two years. “At least we're superstitious together, not alone in it.”

“Great, we can start a cult now,” he retorted. “Go ahead and lock up, and I'll get this to a stopping point before the broadcast starts up.”

***

Amsterdam - Dam Square - 10:10am

“…Luc?”

“Yeah, I see it.”

The mood of the crowd had been altogether annoyed to start with, but now… He could feel the little hairs on the back of his neck standing at attention. The group of people was starting to be less people and more a single creature… And they had enough things going wrong today without adding in the stupid shit people could get up to if the group mentality got strong enough.

Get enough people together and they started to feel invincible. It had been a good thing for the past two years, had gotten everyone to stick together and pull through the hard times, but this… This was unsettling.

The princess was talking now, explaining what she was doing to help the Netherlands make it through the winter, talking about how well their country had risen to the challenge of the last two years and persevered… And it was nice to hear; the crowd agreed with him, if the happy murmurings and excitement in the air meant anything.

But if there was one thing he'd learned since Libra's fall, it was that any strong emotion was really just energy, and that it could switch and turn from something good to something bad damned fast.

His stomach was twisting… If the reaction the princess got out of crowd was always like this, he never wanted to be at another of her speeches again.

***

Amsterdam City Limits - 10:15am

“Mr. Peacecraft? Mr. Peacecraft, wake up, you should hear this…”

Milliardo started awake, sitting up straight with a jerk that made him grimace in pain as he tried to focus his eyes. “What is it?”

“Miss Peacecraft moved up her timetable, sir… They're airing it on one of the local radio stations, we only just tuned in and realized.”

Chills ran through his body, wracking his chest, and he grit his teeth hard to keep his face blank. He hadn't gotten there in time, with the two hour drive, he realized too late that Dorothy had likely called once he had left her in Relena's suite. “Turn it up,” he told the men in the front seat. It wasn't as though he could do anything about it with over twenty minutes of driving left; alerting the locals would could only cause a mess of rumor-mongering if he tried to interfere with her so openly.

Still, he could feel bile rising up to his mouth as he gripped his seat hard, leaning forward. He could only hope that his fears were unfounded.

***

Amsterdam - Dam Square

Jake stood a yard behind and slightly to the left of Relena with his hands folded in front of him, his feet shoulder-width apart, eyes roving the crowd. He had Cassidy just out of the crowd and cameras' line of sight on her right and the rest of his daytime crew strategically scattered around the stage, the only two men Mitchell hadn't already claimed from the old night crew in civilian dress a little ways out into the crowd on surveillance patrols. Normally he wouldn't risk the night guard's vigilance by keeping them awake so long, but after getting that call from Dorothy earlier he had no delusions about sleeping anywhere but under Zechs' strict guard that night.

The question was simply how public it would be, and whether Zechs wanted to make an even bigger fuss by trying to cancel the rest of the tour again. Without good reasons it would start to really look like the princess was getting slapped on the wrist for wanting to do her job. And that would look just great for the prince… `Political suicide' might even be an apt term.

Unless, of course, he managed to pull up a legitimate looking response that made Relena look foolish… In which case the press could easily still sway in Relena's favor and if it didn't, well, they might be put under house arrest for another week and he could finish getting his team back in order after David had taken nearly half for his new strike force. He didn't begrudge the fact that he had wanted both the majority of the night guard as well as Cassidy, he agreed with his friend's choices entirely, but good help was hard to come by, especially considering the fact that he hadn't gone looking for potential in the troops at all recently. He didn't like having to rely on recommendations and had, in some ways, actually rather appreciated the confinement in that it gave him time to research them personally, but the siblings' power play had to come first. If by some miracle Zechs let them finish the tour without severe delays, he could move Jerome to night shift and have the man babysit anyone new to their circle while bringing a few new people into the day crew to balance it all out. Mitchell was fine with him keeping Cassidy for another two weeks, as he had already drilled the man in most of what the other colonel was doing with his people, so the disparity shouldn't be too severe… He already had most of his replacements picked out, and Mitchell was putting them through their paces along with his own new recruits so they would be at least close to being up to snuff…

A flash of metal reflecting the late morning's sun caught his attention completely… it was really too much to have hoped it was just someone's lighter, wasn't it?

“Alert and white,” he muttered sharply into his hidden radio, scanning the area he'd seen the glint come from without letting his body language change; if Zechs was fucking right and they were dealing with the possibility of a sniper, then he'd grossly misjudged enough already without giving the man a head's up. He'd kept an ear to the ground well enough to know that no group wanted Relena dead, but that never accounted for the random new amateur. “Cassidy on dive.” Chances were that it was merely an armed citizen… nearly everyone was these days, and for good reasons…

The crowd reeled and surged, and a woman shrieked; someone else had noticed there was a shark in the reef. Fuck. Panic was not good friends with establishments filled past capacity… And if they got the brilliant idea that the threat might be aimed at the princess that everyone was here to adore that could put an angry spin on the rising hysteria, and… This needed to stop now or `carnage' might be what they called this tomorrow.

Lena was trying… but they weren't focused on her anymore, everyone was trying to see or get to or get away from the disturbance, though a few smart ones near the edges of the mass were ducking away even as others pushed in closer, wanting to see what was going on even though they all had to know they couldn't see over the crowd. It was getting louder by the second, and he could feel the energy thrumming through him as if he was just as locked in that jungle of chaos, waiting for his fate to be decided, made the air feel thick enough to choke on even as he felt his body disconnecting from his mind enough that he could move like the wind with no hesitation, could screen out his fear…

Chaos was dangerous. Having lost the central anchors to keep something like this organized, it could spiral into something he knew he couldn't face and survive. Only the suicidal believed in the kind of odds that made heroes. The price of fighting for what you believed in was the realization that throwing in everything you had all at once might not be good enough, the price of life was knowing your own limits and how to circumvent your weaknesses, and this-

One of the carts selling food tipped and crashed, and everyone near it rushed; whoever had done it, no one was going to lose an opportunity like that-

A pair in militia khaki tried to shove back and were swallowed.

Jake reached forward and tugged firmly on Relena's coat, forcing her to take an involuntary step back even as she turned to him. Her jaw was set, but her eyes were lit with the same fear he had seen two weeks ago; her body language was hesitant even as she moved for him.

Of course she didn't want to give up, but she was smart enough to know it was hopeless. She was smart enough to realize they needed to leave while there was an escape route available to them, to know that right now her audience had lost enough reason that-

Cassidy slammed into them both from the side and he reflexively wrapped an arm around Lena to lessen the impact. She screamed in his ear from the pain but he could hardly hear it through the ringing. A swift glance showed the point of impact had been wild, the shot probably wouldn't have hit, but it had still been close enough to fuck up his hearing, which was close enough to make a clear point.

Zechs is going to kill me.

“Move out!” he snapped, feeling his voice in his throat more than he could hear the whisper of it. Shit, who else is gone deaf? He tucked one arm tighter around Relena's waist even as she hissed and moved so it was under her sling, and rose into a crouch to drag her behind the speakers, muscles straining as he used his other hand to sign to his boys that they were running. At least Relena helped, half crab-walking to get them out of line of sight faster; he was more fast than he was strong and the angle was hell. “Abort,” he ordered in what he figured was at least close to a normal volume. “If you're pinned just worry about getting yourself out, but if able accompany, or rendezvous two streets south in three minutes. If you miss the deadline, we will be enroute to Canaan.” He always had a sanctuary destination planned for emergencies and this certainly qualified.

The line keeping the crowd from the stage area was still holding for the moment and the stairs leading up to the stage were in plain view from the crowd, so he dropped off the side and reached back up to help the princess down. She immediately moved with him.

It was another of those oddly smooth moments where they simply flowed together as if he had been working with her as long he had with David, where she practically did what he wanted before he could think to ask, trusted him so implicitly with her person that she never thought to hesitate even that brief moment the way anyone over the age of five couldn't help. It was decidedly odd, but he couldn't deny that the symmetry was incredibly gratifying, for all its lack of reasoning…

And just because he wasn't panicking did not mean that he could stay that detached from the damn riot brewing.

Not that he'd stopped moving; Relena had only taken two steps, walking as briskly as she could and not look like she was about to lose it - they were probably still being filmed by someone - and he was directly behind and to the side, cataloguing threats even as his thoughts wandered, muscles coiled and ready to react without even a moment's notice.

It was amazing what you could learn to do without the slightest supervision.

Lincoln hailed them from some yards ahead; he was staying put, ready to cut a path… just because the mob wasn't in here yet didn't mean everyone backstage hadn't already begun milling in hysteria, making anything faster than Relena's brisk walk impossible. He caught a glimpse of one of his hand gestures raised above the crowd far to the left, not far from where he had stationed Jerome. He glanced back; if it was at least the four of them then they should-

Cassidy jumped down after them just as the line broke and suddenly they were pulled into the tide.

***

Milan, Italy

Hilde stared up at the public screen with the same mute horror as everyone else in the square, disbelieving. This is just another nightmare. It's just another damn nightmare… But at the same time she wasn't waking up, and she knew better than to think a nightmare would have her in such a detached area, watching a screen over five hundred miles away.

Western Europe, the coast countries at least, were supposed to be safer than this. Even with all the subterfuge and skirmishing she took part in, trying to rattle the current government seat, things like this… She'd seen the hunger in nearly every town, the poverty, but this kind of chaos…

Duo… Why was it happening in Amsterdam? It would be easier to put aside as another consequence of Zechs Marquis' actions if only it wasn't Amsterdam. She could only hope that her friend wasn't anywhere near that… that maelstrom of people. That Relena would get away safe, that Duo was still working nights and home asleep in his pit of Devils, strong enough to withstand any siege.

She felt so utterly helpless that for another moment she dared to hope it really was a nightmare after all before giving up entirely, forcing herself to turn away and heading out to the meet with one of Sally's contacts.

***

Dam Square - 10:20am

Relena bit back a scream as she was suddenly shoved forward, flinching away from the rising ground even as Jake caught her around the middle and slid in front of her, bracing his whole body into her good shoulder and wrapping his arms around her as the onslaught just continued and she gasped in pain. Squeezing her eyes shut she tried to focus instead on the clean sweet scent of Jake's cologne, the way he held her now… She was safe, despite the rising madness all around them, despite the shrieking throbbing in her arm that still defined her existence. She couldn't think… So she stood clinging to her friend until it passed enough that she could again.

Oh God. “Someone tried to kill me,” she whispered, her good hand tightening on his shirt as the implications hit home. “Oh God…” Somehow the idea that someone would try that was far more terrifying than any of the times she had been held at gunpoint. Then again, after the first few times I stopped believing he might actually pull the trigger. Not that Heero was the only one who had tried to control her that way during the war, but… Well, after Heero no one else ever seemed half as intimidating.

Until now, at least. She couldn't help but giggle a little at that, and it came out sounding utterly hysterical, and she buried her face in Jake's shoulder to muffle the noise.

“Hey, hey,” the man muttered soothingly. “I'll get you out of here… As soon as you're okay to move again we're going, just tell me when, we'll go someplace safe. Just try to keep it together for me and we'll get back to our house arrest, huh Princess?” That last was said with a slight laugh that seemed like it was a little too close to hysterical too, but he was trying…

She shut her eyes for a moment took a deep breath, trying to push back the pain… it wasn't all encompassing anymore, at least. Looking over Jake's shoulder, she could see Lincoln fighting the crowd hard to try to keep from being moved further away. But who was it who had pushed them out of the line of fire…? Cassidy. “Where's Cassidy?” she asked, trying to look over her shoulder and gasping when doing that jostled her arm.

“He's coming,” Jake assured her, though his face was tight. “He fell… He's back up, he'll be along in a moment.” Leaning back to look her in the eyes, he asked, “Ready?”

Someone bumped into her hard form behind, but she managed to only grimace this time instead of crying out. She nodded despite not feeling like she could ever be ready, and they shifted so they could start to move. Fighting the crowd's push and pull without falling or breaking down sobbing - from either the shock or the pain, she wasn't sure which - took all her attention, thankfully… Otherwise she knew she probably would break down sobbing. There was something wrong with that logic, but that really didn't matter at the moment… she was pretty sure someone had stolen her wallet, she couldn't feel it in her pocket anymore…

Jake was a lifeline, pulling her along to safety even as she felt like she was worlds away, and she reflexively tightened her grip on his forearm when a shadow passed over them, first not wanting to guess what it was then calling herself silly because it must have only been clouds… until she heard metal shriek. Her bodyguard glanced behind them quickly, half-stepping back to the side so he was in front of her again before his head even finished turning.

His eyes flat, there was no warning as he shoved her hard into the mercies of the crowd.

Before she could even cry out, time even for her heart to begin dropping into the pits of her stomach, something crashed down from the sky and directly into him.

***

Devil's Den - 10:25am

Melissa fought to catch her breath as Kay pounded on the door to the den; it was locked tight, and no wonder, with a riot erupting only five blocks away. Kay had only stopped to barricade the doors and help her throw what was most valuable in their bags before they had gone out the garage and locked it down, and started sprinting for home.

She hadn't dared to ask if he'd lived through riots before; she wasn't sure she really wanted to hear the answer. Her mind was still spinning with the impossibility of it - a riot, here, and at Relena Peacecraft's speech? A riot… it was a joke, right? A misunderstanding? It was about to calm back down, they were just being overcautious, if they'd kept listening to the radio they'd have seen it was alright…

But she could hear the voices from here. And they had heard more than one gun go off even closer, while they had run. Someone was panicking, or ready to take advantage, robbing or killing when there wasn't any chance they could get caught…

She wanted to cry with relief when the door finally opened. The sky might as well have been falling; it hadn't been half so terrifying when Libra fell. It had been so far away then, even if it had changed everything. This… Oh God, who's still out there? At least it's Monday, Nolan's in school…

Kay was already ahead of her, telling Isaac, who looked more than a little shaken up himself, to get down the names of everyone there, then write up a different list for everyone who was out, reminding him that the school would have everyone who went barricaded inside soon if they didn't already. Melissa licked her lips. Right. There were the high school kids too. They wouldn't have to worry about Theresia, Laura, Tiede, Markos, Ruben, or Christiaan, then… And Amos was in the same class as Nolan. As Chaos told Robby to make sure no one was forgotten, she tried to tally up who she knew was working. Rina's out, but Bryce would have locked down as soon as it started to go sour. Adelheid and Marien were in the kitchen earlier… Jamus, Gust, and Adriaan all work nights, so they'll be downstairs, Mik… Leah was going to the speech, and Katrien too! She closed her eyes as her stomach twisted. Mik… Why couldn't she remember where Mikal was? Or if Harold was working or not? She thought he was, but she couldn't remember… Or Daan…

She couldn't even remember who all had said they were going to the speech, because she hadn't cared for going herself. She squeezed her eyes shut tighter, trying to keep back the tears. Why couldn't she remember, she was supposed to pay attention and know so everyone was always safe Luc counted on her, and-

Oh no. Luc and Shov were out there. Who else was on shift for militia peacekeepers?

“`Liss?”

Her eyes snapped back open when Kay focused on her. He looked concerned, but still determined too. “Yes?”

He pursed his lips a little, reached out to cup her cheek with one hand. “If everyone hasn't all come back or's probably been barricaded in somewhere in another forty minutes, we might need to go looking.”

She understood immediately, and, feeling at least a little better for having a role in mind, turned her head to kiss his palm. “I'll be ready.”

***

Dam Square

“Jake!”

The scream made her throat feel raw.

He didn't move.

About to drop to her knees - Oh God, so much blood! - she screamed again as someone grabbed her around the waist, trying to kick behind her.

“Lena!” Cassidy protested, voice strained. “Jesus, it's me…” His voice trailed off as he looked over her shoulder, saw his commander. “Christ!”

It was one of the massive overhead lights that had been set up for the outdoor stage; she could see another beginning to teeter dangerously on the far side. The very head of the light had crashed into his upper body and hid his head for more than a foot in any direction… But a puddle of blood was steadily spreading out from underneath the toppled fixture.

“Can you lift it?” she asked Cassidy desperately, lifting her head to look pleadingly into his face. Jake wasn't moving-

“Not one-handed,” her bodyguard gritted out, and she looked down at the arm he had barely touching her waist instead of wrapped securely, and gasped. His hand had been crushed. She let out a little sob. Crushed like Jake's head might be, under there. Another sob escaped before she could clamp it down. Oh God, no… No, we have to get him out.

“We have two hands between us?” she whispered hopefully, even as she doubted the idea. It was huge… But she could feel Cassidy nonetheless nod behind her without a moment's hesitation and start to move to her side instead. The crowd wasn't pressing in so tightly around them now, eager to avoid an obstacle if they could see it in time… she saw someone trip over the pole down the length of it and go flying. She didn't let herself look long enough to see if they managed to rise again before being trampled.

Between the two of them, they could barely shift the head of the light; Cassidy wouldn't have been able to move if even if his hand was unharmed. She let out a wail and tried again anyway. No! No, not Jake… She thought she could bear the thought of anyone but Jake being- No! “Please no,” she found herself crying, sobbing, standing stooped over and pulling uselessly at a damn light fixture that was in all certainty killing her friend, the only true friend she thought she might have ever had.

It was her father all over again. He was under there dying, and no one cared, everyone was only out for themselves, and she couldn't stand to have it happen all over again. Life couldn't be so cruel again, she wouldn't let this happen, again, she wasn't strong enough to let this happen all over again-

She screamed, pulling at the weight with all her might. Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, she prayed, pulling still with everything she had. “Please!” she cried out, wrenching uselessly at the light, not caring if it made her bad arm twitch and seize from the strain. “Please, anything!” Sobs wracked at her body; she knew it was hopeless; God had never cared any of the other times she had cried. “Help me!” she demanded in a scream. “Please!” Her words were choked with tears, she could hardly even understand herself… she cried even harder, opening her eyes to stare into the bleak grey sky. “Please… Just once, just fucking help me!” she screeched at it.

The light shifted under her hand.

Eyes widening in shock, she looked back down… to find six, no, seven, eight people all crouched all around the square head, all readying to lift at the same time, Cassidy crouched with his arms wrapped around Jake's waist, ready to pull hard as soon as the weight was taken off her blonde colonel. Feeling as though time was slowing, she stepped back so as not to get in their way…

…And he was in Cassidy's arms.

He looked so small, limp as a rag doll, cradled in Lieutenant Foreman's arms, blood covering his face… she tended to forget that he was hardly any bigger than her, with his confidence and the way he moved. He looked so fragile… but he was breathing. He'd be able to pull through, they just needed to get him somewhere safe, get him a doctor-

Her mind seemed to clear almost instantaneously. Looking over those who had helped, she asked, “Can you stay with us?” She had no idea where the rest of her detail was, and even if she did, they might not be able to reach each other. Right now they were practically in a bubble in the crowd because of the light, but that probably wouldn't last much longer… And Cassidy couldn't carry Jake for too long with his hand, no matter how much bigger he was.

Three immediately disappeared. Two more offered her a look of regret before becoming part of the crowd again.

She glanced back as movement caught her eye and spotted Lincoln, looking out of breath, and made up her mind. “Lieutenant Sobrie, please take Jake before Foreman drops him.”

***

Dam Square - 10:30am

Lincoln pushed harder, gaining little ground for all the effort he was putting in; it was practically like every step he gained, he was pushed two back.

He had originally planned to stay put or at least not drift far until Jake and Relena reached him, but then the stage light had come crashing down and he couldn't see them anymore… He refused to acknowledge his stomach's clenching. He was almost to where it had fallen now, and-

And Cassidy was trying to shift the weight of a body in his arms with a mangled hand, blood flowing over everything… and the body was Miller. He didn't even look like he was breathing. Blood all over the ground, like it was pooling from under the light - and where is Relena? - and-

“Lieutenant Sobrie, please take Jake before Foreman drops him.”

He didn't think to question where the command had come from before taking his unconscious colonel from Cassidy - the other man did look like he was about to lose his grip - settling him as well as he could, rather grateful that Jake was an altogether small guy. It was only as he finished that he looked back over… and went still.

Relena was talking quickly with three people standing nearby, and her light grey pantsuit was drenched in blood from the knee down and splotched here and there on the jacket, hips, and white shirt underneath from where her bloody hand had brushed against it; her sling looked as though it was from a fresh injury. It was only a moment before she turned back them and…

Everything about her, sling or no, even with the tear tracks streaming down her cheeks, screamed command. Her normally soft blue eyes were hard, her posture rigid, and disheveled as she was, short hair sweaty and sticking to her neck and cheeks, somehow she looked every inch the royalty she was, willing to be denied nothing.

“Cassidy, please attempt to inform the rest of the guard that we will be late to the rendezvous; in any case, you will be leading.” She gestured at the three civilians, two men and a woman. “These fine citizens will be joining us; Lincoln, please allow Tanner to carry Jake from here, you're more important as a defense.” She wiped absently at one cheek, seeming not to realize that she only spread more of Jake's blood on her face and in her hair. “Let's go; the sooner we get the safety the better chance he has.”

As he moved to follow her orders, carefully handing over Jake to the man that gestured for him, Lincoln couldn't help but think that he had finally met the Relena that walked directly into the middle of battlefields without fear. That this was really the princess that Milliardo Peacecraft seemed to be afraid of stealing out from under him… and it fit her like a glove.

It was too bad Jake couldn't see it.

***

Amsterdam - Haarlemmerweg Middle School - 10:35am

“This is kinda weird…”

“What do you think's going on?”

“It's probably just another drill, or some dumbass called in a-”

“Oh my God!”

“Let me see!”

Nolan shifted his backpack on one shoulder, stopping himself from going over and crowding the girl who had an old PlayPaq out; a few of the girls in his class were already doing that anyway, and he could ask them in a few minutes.

He didn't like crowds. He really never had, but after his dad had left the city… well, crowds could be trouble just as easy as a place to hide.

“This is making me want to ditch and go home,” Amos muttered as he came over to lean against the wall with him. “Something's weird.”

Nolan nodded a little, biting one lip. Something did feel weird about all this… The whole school had been called out of class into the Multi-Purpose Room then practically ignored, which had never happened before, and the fact that Elayna thought it was okay to pull out her PlayPaq in the first place when she knew the staff would take it away if they saw it showed that everyone else thought this was weird too. Bordering on scary…

He couldn't help but smile a little at that. Two years ago it would have been terrifying. Before Dad had left, before `Liss had dropped out and… Before she had had him live at the church for a few weeks and he had to share a bed with Amos, before Luc had come and rescued them from it all and started up the Devils… It was weird to think he'd only been twelve, then.

“I take it back, I'll stay right here,” Amos muttered, and Nolan snapped out of his thoughts to blink and the other boy before focusing on the rest of the room… and the panic and shouting… and what they were saying.

His stomach clenched. “A riot?” he whispered, disbelieving.

Amos dropped his book bag to the floor and moved to sit cross-legged against the wall. “I don't care if it's real or not, I'm not going out there until Chaos or someone comes to get us.” He shook his head. “Not worth it if there's even a chance they're right… And I promised Kay and the Father I wouldn't go looking for trouble if I could ever help it.”

Nolan licked his lips and nodded, seeing the sense in it - wasn't like he and Amos even knew how to fight, really - and followed the orphan's example, sitting with his back to the wall, away from everyone else. He only watched everyone for another minute or two before pulling out his math book, though, and starting his homework. He needed something to focus on anyway.

***

Amsterdam - Unknown - 10:40am

Everything… echoed.

What's happening? …What happened?

It was like there was a fog over everything, hiding and muffling… making it slow…

…Where am I? There was something important… Something important that he knew he was forgetting… Shivering, he wrapped his arms around himself and looked around, dimly realizing he in uniform… and saw. Shov.

I have to help Shov.

Bending over, he pulled his old friend up onto his shoulders and took a few unsteady steps toward… He had no idea where they were.

Am I dreaming? It felt like a dream… But he didn't think it was one. Everything was fuzzy, but… it felt too real even as it was like he was in somebody else's body.

There had been… an alley. Maybe this one, but with people, and noise, and… And nothing. He didn't remember a fight, but Shov was hurt, and he knew shaking him wasn't going to make him wake up… But he couldn't think of why he knew…

He just… he needed to get Shov to the hospital.

Whichever way hospital was.

He started walking again.

***

Amsterdam - Safe house motel

Relena closed her eyes as soon as she shut the door to her private room, slowly letting out a deep breath. The danger was over with… and somehow that made it even harder to keep herself together.

Rome had managed to get to the little motel before the rest of them, the crowd having pushed him that way to start with, and he had called in high priority emergency codes for an ambulance pick-up even before that, so it had been waiting to take Jake and Cassidy away when they got there. There was no sign of the rest of her entourage yet, but she had made Cassidy promise to call her as soon as there was any news on Jake's condition. Lincoln, Jerome, and the three civilians who had stayed with them were in the next room, but there wasn't anything to indicate that she was even there for all that Jake had designated it as a safe house for her… Actually, he had probably counted it as one purely for the anonymity instead of extra precautionary measures.

She'd also told Cassidy that he had her permission to use her name for clout and full reign to be pushy to make sure their colonel wasn't left in a corner and forgotten. The lieutenant had tried to refuse to leave when he had realized only Lincoln and Rome were present but if he waited too long his hand really would be ruined, and the place was deserted in any case.

She was safe… Which meant she really couldn't put it off any longer. At least, not and not feel horrible for it later.

Taking another deep breath, she pushed a button on her phone to see her missed calls and hit send.

I hope you all enjoyed it, and I'm sorry for cutting in the middle like this, but as I said, the next chapter is nearly finished already and will be posted sometime between three days and a week. Reviews are always awesome, but really, I just hope you've enjoyed reading all this at least half as much as I have. After the next chapter there will be the epilogue, and after that, the sequel. It's named Sedition, so keep an eye out for it, I guess.

Anyhow…

Duo-centric Issue

Alright, so the beginning of Survival was not very well plotted, not until around chapter six, and while I've tried to flesh it out more going back, the problem is that none of the characters were doing much that was worthwhile at the time. However, I have a few ideas, and I've gotten myself a beta reader to polish Survival over before moving on to Sedition, and one of the things I'm trying to do is widen the beginning scope of the story just a little, seeing as everyone keeps getting this “Duo-centric story” idea. I like his character and the OC's around him, sure… that's hardly what I'm obsessing over. My obsession, hands down, would be trying to weave the plotlines together seamlessly (or as well as I can manage).

Honestly, the majority of Survival was character development, and that was the showing point of the last chapter. Relena would not be acting as she is now without all that has happened. Heero is practically a different person. Duo was broken by his failure at Libra, as was Wufei, and they found different ways to cope; Duo has finished rebuilding himself literally just in time for the shit to hit the fan, and while Wufei's not really okay yet, he's getting there and playing his part. Trowa and Adam are obviously very different people yet still the same, solving his problems with apathy and skill even as he scorns apathy. Zechs really isn't a nutcase, but has been driven into the role he has now. Treize's inner workings have been given a little light even while he's still the suave, capable commander, though maybe his priorities have shifted. The list goes on.

That said… I've gone back and edited to try to make it clear from the beginning that it's just a slowly widening scope, and if you read it all forever ago as I was writing, It might be worthwhile to at least skim through the first four or so chapters for the differences. There are a few new scenes from Heero's perspective, while he's that depressed, as well as a new scene from the perspective of one of the Winner sisters about what's happening in chapter four. I have, at this point, also cleaned up my typos in the whole story and rewrote a number of the early scenes slightly to show more perspective from the various characters that I basically couldn't have included then because I didn't really know them yet. Duo is and will remain a main character for the rest of the story, but so will Heero and all the others, and I imagine everyone will continue to play either more important or inane roles as the story goes. I mean, that's life, isn't it? Sometimes it can be action and life or death, and sometimes it's a happy lull… Though happy lulls have a way of ending, especially in a war setting.