Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Where Sunrays can't reach you ❯ Chapter 13 ( Chapter 14 )

Chapter 13.

Being in outer space had been an excellent opportunity to further improve his skills, even if he often had been lonely, with too much time to think. It was still very strange being back on earth after all that time And he wasn't just anywhere, but at Sanc, the country he had helped freeing. His country.

Zechs walked inside the room. It was just like it had been then. Except there was no one there now. How he had longed for this day for so many years. Sanc was finally freed from the clutches of the Alliance. He walked towards the painting of his father and took of his mask. The only person he felt comfortable enough with to be around without wearing it was Treize. Still he couldn't disrespect his father by keeping it on.

He hadn't seen his father's face for more than 12 years, except in his dreams. While he was sleeping this man's face haunted him. The last glimpse he had caught of it was a look of disappointment. Because of me. It was this look that drove him forth past human limits to appease it, or rather; to escape it. On the painting there was no disappointment, only nobleness and strength. It was I who took it away in the last moments of his life.

Only in Treize's arms had he found temporarily relief from this maddening torture in his mind. But he hadn't felt those around him for more than a year. He was living now as he had done before he had met Treize; fighting against himself and without hope of rest in his mind. Fighting soothed, channeling all the pain until it was almost controllable, but it had never been anything like Treize's touches.

Otto, the man who had been so kind to him when he was living in an almost permanent state of shock had sacrificed his life for him. He was probably the only one who still wanted him to be king. He shook his head. Why did he do that? It only showed how unfit I am to lead this peaceful country…Otto

He looked up at his father again. "I was your heir, but I can never be king, there's too much blood on my hands."

And in my mind.

"Relena will fulfill your hopes."

Since Sanc had fallen there had been many times he had wanted to end it for himself as well. The memories of that day had played through his head over and over again. If only I had been with my mother at the hospital… if only I had stepped in the waiting plane immediately…if only I had been shot…In all of those scenarios he would have died before ever killing any one under his father's eyes. I would have died young, but a true Peacecraft.

None of that had happened and he had lived on, determined to atone for his sins by making sure his unstained sister would inherit the throne once. Every time the pain seemed too much he had promised himself he would take his own life once Sanc was liberated. It would have been the best thing for Relena as well. His very existence could give people the opportunity to question her legitimacy as heir. He was after all the elder sibling and he doubted not they would make up some bastard child he had fathered to weaken her position. The best plan had seemed to commit suicide before anyone would find out who he was.

But things had turned out quite differently from what he had planned. Someone had already known who he was. Sometimes he had wondered how Treize had known who he was, but deep inside he knew. It was the young man he had seen just after Relena's birth. That very first time they met he had already looked at him with piercing eyes, like he could see his whole mind. Never had they spoken about that time, but whenever the older man was near he looked at him with that same stare. Always looking at him like he wanted to know everything that was going on inside him, like he wanted to possess every tidbit of knowledge there was to find about him.

It was this that he feared, that he would know, would find out about every vengeful, hating feeling he had ever had and would turn away in disgust. And it would be even more painful now that he had grown to love him like nothing else. It was because of this that he had a reason to continue, to keep on living, even though he hadn't seen him for more than a year and wasn't entirely sure if Treize still felt like he had always claimed to feel about him.

He nodded his head to the painting and turned around.

Someone stood in the door opening. Zechs steadied his trembling hands as he looked at the grave expression.

Treize...

"…Your Excellency…"

The man walked towards him.

"Will you forever be like that, Milliardo? So formal, so distant?" He meant it as a joke, but the sadness sounded through his voice.

Zechs looked down, not knowing how to react. He felt how the other man walked towards him. Then a few strands of his hair were grabbed and carefully flipped over his ear. He finally looked up in Treize's tender eyes for a second. Then he was pulled in a tight embrace. Zechs let his head rest against broad shoulders, as he felt encircled by strong arms.

"Treize..."

"Being insecure again, pretty?"

He just shook his head against the shoulders, but smiled unseen. How does he always know what I am thinking? They stood like that for a while, but for Zechs it seemed far too short. Treize broke away and took a moment to drown in his eyes. Then he opened his mouth.

"I think it's time for you to tell me what happened here."

Startled, Zechs took a step backwards.

"What do you mean?"

Treize only frowned and Zechs knew he was not going to be able to avoid it. .......He has a right to know at least that.

Still he didn't want to talk about it. He had always kept it hidden, even from himself. Only in his sleep he was not strong enough to keep away the images.

He looked at the other and then grabbed Treize's arm forcefully, anger manifesting in his grip.

"Come"

Treize followed him. They passed large hallways, rooms of different sizes until Zechs held halt in a kitchen. He pointed at a door next to a huge rusted furnace.

"They have killed my father on those stairs."

"Who?"

"Them"

"You mean the military forces of the Alliance?"

Zechs looked at him annoyed. Why is he asking for something so obvious? Then he realized that Treize was forcing him to talk in a way that was different from what was going on in his mind. Them or they was not going to be enough.

"Yes."

"You were there with him?" Treize asked.

"No, I was.... he had already thrown me down, but I could hear him scream."

"Where did he throw you?"

"Down there.... through a hatch," Zechs said as he pointed somewhere past Treize.

It was getting increasingly difficult to speak about it. Do I want him to know?…he does seem to want to himself.

"The cooks used it to dump garbage from this kitchen in, my father tried to save me like that," he explained.

"Tried? You are alive now, did he not succeed?" Treize asked, his stare piercing Zechs.

"I...yes of course he did."

Treize narrowed his eyes.

"What happened to you there, Milliardo?"

He swallowed and looked down. I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT.

But he did. Why he didn't know, because of a feeling he owned it to Treize or maybe because it really did seem good to do so for once.

"When I fell down I got unconscious for a while, I really don't know for how long."

Treize nodded for him to continue.

"I woke up because of a smell, so penetrating, so foul. When I opened my eyes I saw Pietro lying there, and Sarina and Nena and more people. They were covered with blood; some of them had twisted body parts. I listened to their pulses, but none of them had a heartbeat. I tried to save them, but they were all death."

He looked up desperately.

"How could they do that, Treize? Some of them were just children, yet they killed them anyway, dumped them through a hatch."

Treize looked at him full of concern. His presence calmed Zechs a little and he continued.

"I wanted to get out then, but there was no door anymore. Part of the walls had collapsed and there was no way out. I tried to move the debris away, but there wasn't anything for me to lift it up. Besides my body started getting cold. There were holes in the roof, allowing the rain and snow in. I had to move constantly to keep myself from freezing, but I used the water to drink."

"You didn't eat anything?" Treize asked, as he stared at him.

"If you want to know if I ate human flesh to prevent myself from getting starved: No. But the rats did. At first I was happy to see them. They reminded me the world was not that room. But soon they started eating from them. I know it's nature, but I couldn't stand it. I tried to keep them away, but they bitted them anyway."

Zechs looked up, he had heard something, something out of the ordinary.

"Did you hear that?"

But Treize only looked at him concerned and shook his head. Am I imagining things now, because I am so close to there?

He listened for another moment, then he continued.

"It was when I was protecting the bodies, when I saw the knife hanging on Mr. Derderies' belt. He was a cook in this kitchen and I presume he used it to cut meat. It took me a long while to remove enough debris so I could escape there, but with the knife I made progress at least."

"So that's how you got out?"

"Yes."

He saw Milliardo look around the room, avoiding his gaze. It was like the prince was trying to find a way to escape his questions, but he was not going to let him go. Now that he heard everything from him, he was amazed at how the youth had been able to overcome such a thing. No "overcome" is not correct, " pretend to overcome" is more like it. If only I had known about the attack on the Sanc-kingdom before it happened I could have prevented all this, or not?

When Milliardo had come to live at his castle it had soon became clear to him he suffered from post-traumatic stress; reliving his memories over and over again, having troubles falling asleep, angering quickly, far too tensed muscles. It was still a miracle he was still alive and not in an asylum. But he knew his mind had not been unscratched by the events. I wonder if he ever cried after this.

Milliardo bit his lip. He seemed determined not to say anything.

"You killed someone?" Treize asked.

Milliardo looked at him wide eyed.

"I heard you say that in your sleep, remember?" Treize said, making Milliardo look down.

"Yes."

"Who?"

"Soldiers from the Alliance."

"After you got out of that room?" Treize asked.

He saw Milliardo's expression and suddenly he understood.

"Or before?"

"Before."

"When your father was still with you?"

Milliardo nodded.

"I wanted to save him, they would have killed him if I hadn't done it. Still he stared at me like I had stabbed him instead of them. He looked so disappointed. At that moment I ceased being his son."

"Did he say that?" Treize asked shocked.

"Not his mouth, but his eyes did." Treize wanted to say to him it wasn't so, that he had just imagined it, that the king had been just shocked and never rejected him as a son. But he didn't know if that was even true. So he just laid his hand on the prince's shoulder.

"Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

Milliardo laid a hand against his head, fingers buried in his long hair.

"They threw him in there as well."

Treize was perplexed for a moment.

"What!?"

"They threw hi…"

"It's okay. I heard what you said, I was just…"

Treize didn't know what to say anymore. Already he had known about many of what had happened to him from when he had gone to Sanc as a boy. He had often thought about what that could have been like for such a little child to go through something like that. But he had never expected it was even more terrible. The king had been buried, so he had thought it natural they had taken his body away immediately. But apparently they first dumped it and only came back for it when Milliardo was already gone. There was nothing he could do now but hold Milliardo close. He had opened all the wounds with his questions and it was very important he would be there as something to hold on to for him right now.

At the moment he reached out his hand for him, a door swung open.

What? I told Lady not to occupy the castle. But the men coming in were not Oz soldiers. Neither was the middle-aged woman. They did have the latest model machine guns in their hands. Treize automatically placed his body between them and Milliardo. The woman pointed her gun at the duke and smiled morbidly.

"I am Sandy Blois-Stuart, I have been waiting for this day, Treize Khushrenada."

He looked at her puzzled. Sandy Blois-Stuart? Am I supposed to know…?

Then he remembered. The man who had seen Milliardo after he escaped had introduced himself as Frank Blois-Stuart. The man he had killed. God! I have to get Milliardo out of here!

The door was too far to reach, but the window was only a few feet away from Milliardo, he might be able to make that. He laid his hand on the back of his arm, so that it could not be seen by their assailants and pointed at the window, hoping the blond saw his gesturing. Now I have to distract them, so he can get a chance.

"Who are you?" Treize asked, counting the people in the room. There were 12 men surrounding the woman. They looked at her expectantly. She's obviously the leader.

"I already told you my name. But you might want to know that you have killed my husband."

"I did?"

Flee Milliardo!

"Yes you did! But of course you have already forgotten," the woman raged.

She rubbed her head to regain some control. This moment Milliardo choose to follow Treizes order and he jumped at the window. He had already climbed on it when the woman screamed and everyone pointed his or her machine gun at Treize.

"Stay here or your dukie is a dead man."

Treize saw how Milliardo hesitated. He looked at him angrily.

"Go! GO!!!"

But Milliardo climbed back in, avoiding his gaze.

"You stupid...! Why can't you ever do as I tell you!?" Treize shouted.

"Aaa how sweet," the woman smiled scornfully. "He doesn't want to leave you."

Treize gritted his teeth, but his anger only amused the woman.

"Where was I before this useless interruption? Oh yes...you killed my husband."

He should have known something like this would happen. There were so many people he had killed, so many families destroyed by him. One of those left behind was bound to want revenge. Treize couldn't blame her and only wished Milliardo wasn't here in the room with them.

"Did you love him?" Treize asked.

"Yes, I think I did. And he was also the one who earned the money. I was pregnant at that time. The shock of his death brought the baby in danger, but I didn't have the money to go to midwife. So it died."

Treize looked at the ground. To save Milliardo he had destroyed someone else. I am so sorry, so terribly sorry. But he knew those words were not going to help her in any way.

"And what happened then?" he asked to keep the conversation going. He had to think of another way to get Milliardo out of this. The old dagger hung on his belt, covered from view by his jacket. It was a Khushrenada heirloom and he knew it wouldn't be of any use against 13 trained soldiers, armed with machine guns.

"I came to this rotten kingdom to collect his body," she said. "Nobody told me who had murdered him, until I grabbed a gun from a soldier. That soon got the lieutenant's tongue moving: Treize Khushrenada had visited Frank and was the last, who had seen him."

The woman wanted to continue, but was interrupted by Milliardo.

"What!? When did this happen?" He looked distrustfully at Treize.

"So you don't know about it, dearie? It was a few days after the attack at Sanc," the woman said.

"What!?" Milliardo screamed. "What were you doing here? You were part of the attack-troops?!"

Treize almost flinched at the terrible look at Milliardo's face.

"No, of course not!"

"Then what were you doing here? You are always so full of secrets, I can't stand it anymore."

Treize turned around and shook him angrily.

"Who do you think made sure they thought you were death, just one of the nameless bodies, Milliardo!? A guard had seen you when you climbed out, remember? Or did you think he wasn't going to tell anyone?"

Milliardo looked disorientated. "But why did you never tell me? Why did you do it? You didn't even know me."

"Didn't I?"

Milliardo looked up at him and then cast his eyes down.

"Can you pay attention to the ones who are pointing guns at you again?" the woman said amused. "Well at least I now know why you did it, why you killed my husband. It's him."

She pointed at Milliardo. "Come here."

"No!" Treize said.

"Come on, you don't want me to shoot your protector, do you little prince?"

Treize looked at him commanding, trying to force him to stay behind him.

"Don't go there!"

Milliardo didn't listen and hesitantly walked over to the woman. When he reached her, she positioned him so Treize could see his face and started walking around him. She caressed his cheek and let a strand of his long hair slide through her fingers.

"So all my suffering was because of this, Khushrenada."

Milliardo stood motionless, guns pointed at him. Her fingers touched his cheeks softly.

"What a beautiful face, so innocent."

With a sudden movement she drew her nails in his cheeks, causing skin to split and blood to drip over his face. His face showed pain for a moment but he managed to keep the rest of his body from moving.

"Leave him alone, it's me you want," Treize snarled.

"Indeed, everything I have done for all those years; starting a resistance group, living in those bloody woods, was all so I could face YOU one day."

"Then why don't you let HIM go?"

"Because the best way to hurt you is through him."

"What makes you think that?" Treize said. "He's just one of my officers."

"Hahaaha, of course he is." Her face turned arrogant.

"You should have listened to him when he said he heard something, Khushrenada. Your conversation of before was very interesting."

She now stabbed a nail near Milliardo's eye and slowly made a deep scratch that reached to his chin.

"Poor thing, suffering so much at such a young age. But you are very lucky, you know." She pulled him by his hair harshly, forcing him to look at Treize.

"You have someone who will always protect you. Well except today.... unfortunately."

She nodded and two of her soldiers pulled him away from her.

"A beauty, isn't it?" she said to the older of the two.

"Yes certainly, m'am."

He cast lustful eyes at Milliardo and started licking blood from his face. Milliardo jerked his head away and closed his eyes, but didn't struggle against it.

The only reason he doesn't resist is because he's afraid they'll kill me. It was terrible to look at the scene before him without being able to do something and he felt his self-control slipping. The other man stepped closer and let caressed the other cheek, making it impossible for Milliardo to look somewhere where he wouldn't see at least one of them. Then when the first man started roaming his hands over Milliardo's body Treize couldn't stand it any longer.

"Get away from him!" He jumped forward. Immediately the woman raised her gun and shot him in his shoulder, causing him to fall backwards a little. His sleeve started sipping up blood, but he didn't notice it, had only eyes for the scene in front of him.

"It would be a nice idea to let them take him while you're watching, don't you think?" The woman smirked.

Treize looked at Milliardo desperately, his face was damaged but his look was getting empty. He's already retreating inside his mind, to protect his sanity from what is going to happen.

"But I have a better idea." She looked from Treize to Milliardo. "Since you had such a nice conversation about the past, why not relive it?"

Treize looked at the woman. What does she mean?

Then he saw the change on Milliardo's face. The expression was no longer empty, but terrified; eyes opened wide, mouth twitching. The blond suddenly jumped to the side in an attempt to get away from his captors, but was kicked in his stomach and he bowed down in pain.

"What are you going to do to him!?" Treize demanded as he looked from the hurt officer to the smirking woman.

But the woman didn't feel like answering his question, instead she said:

"It's perfect, even better than killing him. This way you are going to lose him forever."

They are going to lock him in there again?!

"No! NO! Please don't! Do it to me, but not to him!"

He's going to crack if they do that!

The young man tried to get up, but was pushed down by two of the soldiers to his knees. He didn't say anything but his face told everything. He was completely panicking and struggled like mad against his opponents.

"Come on! We can't hold him!" One of his assailants screamed and another one walked towards the young blond. He shot one last terrified, begging look at Treize as he tried to move towards him, instinctively seeking his protection. But Treize could only watch in horror as Milliardo was kicked in the face and flew against the wall, losing consciousness.

"Hmmpf, take him away Sergei, Eduardo."

The two men dragged him away through the door.

"See, just like then." The woman smirked. "He's already unconscious."

Now nothing mattered to Treize anymore; Milliardo was out of their guns' range so he went for the woman's throat.

Immediately the remaining 10 soldiers started beating him. He kicked, hit, let his fighting skills take over completely. Someone tried to hit him out with his fist but he easily evaded it, letting it crash against another instead. Then a foot came at him with great speed, but he grabbed it and pushed it up so far until the owner of it lost his balance and fell down. Many attacks he knew to evade, but his opponents were trained soldiers and he could only hold on for a few minutes before he was restrained.

"That asshole broke my nose!" a soldier screamed and hit him in the face hard. But it only caused him to close his eyes for a mere second, then he looked up again.

The woman stood before him. She took out a hypodermic needle of her backpack and filled it with some fluid from a test-tube.

He made a last attempt to save Milliardo:

"Your husband never felt any pain as he died. Why do you want to hurt him then?!"

But he should have known it was a lost cause. The only thing that had kept this woman going for all this time was her desire to see him suffer. She was not going to back down now that it was even more perfect than she had imagined.

"Be quiet, Khushrenada, sweet dreams," she murmured, as she pushed the needle inside his arm.

To be Continued