Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Where Sunrays can't reach you ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5.

Within a hint of a second Treize was pushed backward, a push that for most people would have been enough to fall flat on their backs. As it was Treize barely kept his balance. He tried to stand upright again and stared perplexed at the man in front of him; the man he had been so close with only a moment ago. Milliardo looked like a trapped animal and pointed his shaking finger at him.

"You! You... know!" was all he managed to shout. Only now Treize realized his slip-up. He had been too comfortable and named Milliardo by his given name, a name he was not supposed to know. The young man quickly grabbed his mask and turned around to go for the door. Treize grabbed his wrist.

"Milliardo, you don't have to worry. I am not...."

The lieutenant pulled himself free with his other arm.

"Get away!!!"

He almost run to the door and disappeared through it. He didn't even take the time to close it behind him and Treize heard footsteps getting fainter quickly.

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As soon as Zechs reached his room he grabbed two of his guns out of the drawers in his closet. He loaded them in record time and put a chair under the doorknob. Unlike the Sanc-kingdom he was planning to put up quite a fight when the Alliance would come for him. Nervously he listened to any rumor coming from outside. There was nothing out of the ordinary yet, but he was absolutely certain they were going to get him. Treize must have alerted them by now! At the thought of him he swallowed. Why did he do… that, when he knew who I was? Was it to spite me? To rub in how pathetic I am? He checked the gun in his right hand again. What was I thinking? Letting myself get swept away by him! Am I so weak then that I enjoy kissing someone who is part of them?

He stayed standing on edge like this for the whole night. But no-one came to kill him or lock him up. And at 6.30 am. a voice sounded through the intercom notifying Mr. Merquise was expected at training half an hour ago.

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The weeks following their encounter in the library Treize made an effort to keep out of the younger man's way. It was hard for him to leave Milliardo alone. So very hard. But somehow he managed. He knew it was necessary to let him adjust to the fact that he knew who he really was. It was important for Milliardo to realize that Treize was not going to share this information with others. Him nosing around in Treize's books had only confirmed what he had suspected all along. He had infiltrated in the Alliance to get revenge. Little could the prince know that he was on his side, that he had been since the day he met him. It would take a lot to gain Milliardo's trust.

He leaned back in his comfy chair and recalled the face. First the eyes. How wonderful it had been to see those again. He had drowned in them, just like when they had first met. And like that time it was full of emotions; pain, fear, confusion and a new one; anger. Compared to other peoples' eyes they had been so rich and it made Treize feel alive. Unlike what he had expected; Milliardo's face was not scarred. On the contrary, it was the most delicate face he had ever seen. The nose was small but proud and upright, the cheeks soft and the mouth pretty, even if it often had a grim lineament.

Treize looked up. Lady came in, as always hiding her emotions, but he could see she was tired. She saluted and started her briefing. He made an effort to listen, after all she was doing all her research for him and he shouldn't be ungrateful by thinking about...other things.

"...It's therefore best to keep the Serenay Foundation from obtaining those commodities," Lady concluded finally.

"I agree, pray look into the willingness of Kazonitch Inc.to obtain them," Treize responded.

"Sir!" Lady walked to the door but Treize's voice stopped her.

"Lady, you have no advice for today?"

Her back still faced him, but she turned her head slightly, not enough to look him in the eye.

"I advise you to minimize the times you let your eyes rest on Lieutenant Merquise, Your Excellency. People will think of him as your weakness and take advantage of it."

She walked on and closed the door, leaving His Excellency with something to think about.

With all the effort he had put into not paying attention to Milliardo, he had still let something of his attraction show on the surface. Lady knew him better than anyone else, but if she had seen it, it was possible others had. He knew she had warned him for De La Ferre in particular.

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Sweat clung to his chin and Zechs used the back of his hand to wipe some of it away. The junior officers had been running in circles for several hours now. He was exhausted, but determined not to let it show. Noin was running on the other side of the gym and shot him a desperate glance. But he knew the red-haired man in the middle of the gym would not be merciful. Why is the count training us anyway? He had already noticed how the relationship between Treize and De La Ferre wasn't exactly based on friendship. When De La Ferre's eyes rested on the duke his face spoke volumes. Treize didn't show any of his true feelings, but he always treated him very formal. Zechs was getting tired, but knew he could keep up the pace for several more hours if he needed too. He would be damned if he would show the count any weakness. But suddenly the sergeant running near him lost his balance. Zechs didn't know if he trembled over something, or if his tired legs just gave way, but the man fell down in front of him. Just in time he could jump over him and then he stopped running. The man held his ankle with a painful twist in his face. Zechs kneeled down next to him and laid his hand on the man's shoulder.

"It's okay, I am going to get you to a doctor," he said.

But De La Ferre came walking towards them with big passes.

"What's the meaning of this? Why did you stop running, lieutenant Merquise?"

Zechs knew De La Ferre had been waiting for an opportunity to get back at him because of past behavior and sighed.

"Sir, I think his ankle is broken, he needs to have medical attention."

"That's for me to decide, lieutenant," the man replied brusquely. He walked towards them and

roughly pushed a thumb against the ankle, causing the sergeant to make a suppressed scream.

"It's only bruised, not broken. He can go to the meds himself."

"Sir, I am positive it's broken. Someone needs to accompany him," Zechs said stubbornly.

He lifted the man up and supported him so he could lean on his unharmed foot. De La Ferre took a step in the direction of the lieutenant and narrowed his eyes. At that moment the door of the gym opened. Everyone turned to the person coming in and stopped running. All of them saluted their commander. They were used to him walking in on training sessions and immediately turned their attention to the arguing officers again. Treize walked towards the count.

"Good afternoon, Zachary. You have been training them quite a while now haven't you?"

Zechs noticed how Treize shot a quick glance at him. He was glad the mask was covering his face as it made him somewhat uncomfortable.

"Indeed I have. They need it," the count replied.

"Someone was hurt?" Treize asked as he looked at the man supported by Zechs.

"Nothing to worry about, but I am quite taken aback by lieutenant Merquise's lack of obedience," the count said.

Treize shot a glance at Zechs.

"I see."

Zechs kept an eye on De La Ferre, who was studying Treize's every movement. It was as if the man was realizing something he hadn't before and searched the duke's face for affirmation.

"Personally I think he needs to be taken out of the military, but since it's one of your officers I shall be lenient," the count said to Treize, who still appeared indifferent.

"Come to my rooms this evening, lieutenant Merquise and we shall discuss matters," the count continued as he spoke to Zechs. But he kept his attention focused on Treize. The duke narrowed his eyes for no longer than a fraction of a second at his invitation of the young officer. But it was enough for the count to confirm what he had already suspected.

At 8 pm Zechs nervously knocked on the door to De La Ferre's rooms. He was resolved not to step into any of the pitfalls the count was undoubtedly going to create for him during the conversation. Noin had offered to wait for him next to the door in case the count would have soldiers waiting for him to beat him up. He had declined; he didn't want her to get involved as well.

"Come in."

He opened the door and saw de man sitting behind his desk. He thought some of the elements in Treize's castle were decadent, but the interior of this office took the cake. Gold-leaf was on the walls, there were jewels on the back of his chair and in the chandelier he recognized real diamonds. To his surprise the man walked towards him and smiled.

"I guess we didn't really make a good start, lieutenant," he said as he invaded his personal space.

"Sir, I apologize for this afternoon," Zechs said, very suspicious of this sudden change in the count. De La Ferre waved his hand, indicating that the apology was unnecessary.

"I read you were Lake Victoria's best student, mister Merquise."

Zechs shrugged his shoulders.

"That's only statistics sir."

"How modest, you don't see that often in the military," the count replied and send him a strong stare. Zechs said nothing.

"I apologize, lieutenant, but I feel really uncomfortable speaking to someone whose eyes I can't see. Can you please take of that mask?" the count said.

Instinctively Zechs grabbed the mask and held it against his head. But he knew he had to take it off. If he wouldn't play by his rules the count would undoubtedly make it impossible for him to remain at the academy. And I need to be here. Quickly he removed it and looked nervously at the count. De La Ferre's eyes widened for a second and his mouth opened a little as he stared at his face.

"Now I understand," he said softly.

"Sir?"

De La Ferre smiled.

"Treize is very fond of you, isn't he?" he said slyly.

"Not more than of his other officers," Zechs said, trying to sound casually.

"No of course not," the count replied. For a moment he let his hand brush a lock of Zechs' long hair. The young man's first instinct was to hit it away, but he managed to resist that impulse. De La Ferre smiled and removed the hand.

"You can go now lieutenant, it was pleasant talking to you," he said and nodded at the door.

As soon as he left the office, Zechs immediately put on his mask again. He didn't like the things the man had said and he liked the way the count had looked at him even less. It was like he had been undressing him with his eyes and the self-assured way in which he had done that had made him feel helpless.

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Treize was to oversee a meeting of all the officers present in his domain. He had taken a bath in the early morning, preparing for a long day. He was pretty sure he had been able to hide his discontent with the fact that Zachary let the young man come to his room when they were in the gym. Still it was very important that none of his emotions would shine through, since both Milliardo and Zachary were going to be present. Treize sighed, but he knew he could do it, his whole life he had taken great pains to keep his thoughts hidden; it wasn't going to be ruined now.

As he walked down the hallway, he heard footsteps coming after him, the person behind him walking just as fast as he.

"Good morning, Lady," he said without looking back.

"Good morning, your Excellency," was the response. The presence of his trusted assistant made him feel a little better and he opened the door to the conference room.

The meeting was a strain. He had made a friendly joke about the new haircut of one of the sergeants, which made everyone laugh, except Milliardo and Lady. The whole time he managed to avoid looking at Milliardo, but he knew Zachary was watching him. It probably didn't matter anymore how he behaved to the prince, De La Ferre's smuck expression told him he already knew something was going on. After reports from all of the officers and an endless debate about who should take over a sick captain's duty, the meeting could finally be adjourned. Treize remained in his seat while his officers stood up. Some left immediately, others lingered. Miss Noin was talking to second lieutenant Shewgalry, who was teasing her with the fact she didn't break his record as soon as he had expected. Lady stood behind his desk, pointing at the notes she had made during the meeting. What really called his attention was Zachary walking over to Milliardo, who had just left his chair.

Treize couldn't hear what they were talking about; it seemed Milliardo was explaining something to the count. The result was that they walked to the door together. Just before they disappeared Zachary laid his arm on Milliardo's shoulder and shot a smile at Treize. Both Lady and Treize stared at the door.

After a few moments Treize looked at her and said, "Get me everything I need to destroy him."

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Zechs had realized Treize didn't tell anyone about him being Milliardo Peacecraft. If the duke had he would have been taken out of the military and probably have been executed unofficially as well. This silence had made him trust the duke even less. It meant that he had a hold over him. Zechs had wondered if Treize was going to make him assassinate some power figure or doing something dangerous like that. Still he hasn't tried to talk to me at all… Why am I not glad about that? These thoughts crossed his mind as he was walking away from Noins room. He always loved to talk to the intelligent young woman. She believed in him, even admired him. Therefore he felt relatively at ease with her. But he always feared the day would come that she would realize what kind of person he really was and turn her back on him.

De La Ferre had been awfully nice to him lately. Since he had come to his office the count had talked to him as an equal, asking him about several things. Zechs didn't trust his sudden change in behavior. He had expected De La Ferre to hold a grudge against him for the rest of his life and knew there was some hidden reason why he was so friendly. All the time the count send him strange glances and Zechs felt he was only waiting for the right moment to act. But he wasn't sure what the man was planning to do. Therefore he was quite glad that the count was away to supervise training in the Sahara.

Another advantage of this trip was that many of the officers were away. Now he could relax a little in the shower. He didn't have one in his own room and always had to go to the communal shower room for officers. Most of the time he washed at strange hours to avoid being seen without a mask. Still he always kept it in his hands so he could put it on when someone entered. He lay a small white towel on a shelve and took his clothes of. He turned on the shower and gasped when the hot water poured over his hair. The soothing hotness made his muscles relax and he automatically raised his head to feel the water fall across it. He needed this bit of comfort and didn't notice someone was opening the door.

Zechs turned the tap and felt how the water got even hotter. He took a step forward to make it reach his long hair better. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder. Immediately he knew it wasn't Treize's. The duke wouldn't have squeezed so forceful. But who else? He turned and stared in the cold eyes of De La Ferre.

"Hello Zechs, taking a shower?"

He was alarmed immediately. The count was supposed to be in the Sahara, not in a shower here with him.

"Yes sir," he replied, keeping his voice undisturbed.

"Aah I see." The towel that had been the only thing covering the counts body fell on the floor. He turned on the tap next to the lieutenant. Zechs felt very uncomfortable. The count was looking intently at his body and didn't really make an effort to hide this. After another probing glance Zechs quickly turned off the tap and went for his clothes. He didn't reach them. The count grabbed his shoulder again and bit in his neck. His teeth went far enough in Zechs' flesh to make it tear. Blood mixed with water and quickly rained away.

"You're not leaving yet, Mr. Merquise," he whispered after he had withdrawn his teeth.

Zechs took a step back and replied, "I think I am."

Again he went for his clothes, but this time the count wrapped his arms around Zechs waist in a crushing way. Zechs felt the man's growing hardness against him and knew he was not going to get away without serious trouble. He struggled to get lose, but noticed this man wasn't a pushover. He graduated from the same Academy Treize Khushrenada had.

"I am going to get you to court for this," Zechs said trying to put some sense into his assailant. It had no effect. The count only laughed and tightened his grasp on the lieutenant.

"Are you? And whom do you think they are going to believe? You, or the count De La Ferre?" he whispered in his ear.

Zechs grew desperate; the body against him made him sick. With a sudden movement he grabbed the man's wrists and pulled himself loose. He took a step backwards looking into the anger on De La Ferre's face.

"I will throw you out of the military unless you submit!" the count screamed. He already advanced to the desperate lieutenant again.

"I don't care anymore!" Zechs shouted and quickly went for the door a third time.

"No?" the count asked "maybe you care about miss Noin then."

Disgust began to mingle with fear and he stopped walking.

"What about her?" Zechs snapped as he looked over his back.

The count smiled, knowing he was going to be victorious.

"If you don't provide me some pleasure, I will have to look for it with her."

Zechs now grabbed him by his neck and pushed him against the wall.

"YOU WILL LEAVE HER ALONE!!"

The count smirked. "I am afraid not, Zechs. Do you think she can take me on?"

Zechs wasn't sure, but had felt the count's strength and doubted it.

"And what if I kill you now, count?" he said, getting more desperate. Again the count smiled his abominable smile.

"Ha, that's when I don't kill you first. Besides even if you would succeed; I have already written reports about the behavior of you AND miss Noin."

Zechs eyes grew wide "but she hasn't done anything wrong."

The count shrugged his shoulders, let his smile grow and said, "Everyone will think you two have killed me. Tell me, what do you think it will be like for a woman in a military prison?"

Zechs weakened his grip on the count. He would never be able to bring harm to his dear friend. De La Ferre immediately took advantage of Zechs' hesitation and hit him in the face. The young man fell with his head against the wall. He leaned his hands against the tiles for a moment and tried to recover, but was hit a second time, now even harder. Blood streamed from where his head had connected to the wall. The count grabbed his arm and pulled him roughly towards him. He pushed a finger on the hurt cheek and licked it. Zechs felt disgusted with the man, but also with himself. The fear that this man would turn his sickly actions to Noin kept him from resisting, but his disgust must have shown, for the count slapped his face a third time. This time it wasn't to hurt however, but to vanquish. Zechs cast his eyes away from the man who seemed to revel in his humiliation.

"What, lieutenant, you think Treize's going to get you out of this one? Ha! If he sees you like this he will never look at you again."

He was pushed against the wall again and the man moved his tongue over his neck. Zechs bit on his lip and looked at the ceiling as in a desperate attempt to block it out.

To be Continued.