Disclaimer:
See previous part(s).
Friday,
November 1 AC 198-23:59
Somewhere, on an L-4 colony, a man
restlessly tossed and turned in his bed. He moaned and groaned against what
happened in his brain. His dreams troubled him to point of yelling aloud.
“Mother!” he gasped, “No! You can’t die!
You can’t!” He screamed more, tossing more violently.
“Mama, I won’t let them get away with it,”
he growled in his sleep, “They’ll pay…. He won’t forget it…he’ll suffer as you
did, his family as ours did.”
Saturday,
November 2 AC 198-00:01
Heero sat up suddenly. He looked around
the room, nothing out of the ordinary. He quietly listened and watched
carefully, but the only thing he could hear was Jet’s breathing. He could not
see anything that warranted his investigation. What had woken him up?
“Something’s not right,” he muttered.
Jet moaned, “Mm, Heero, what is it?” He
told her it was nothing, and she went back to sleep. He swung his legs over the
bed and got out. He put on some pants and a shirt then he walked upstairs to
the diner, flicking on a few lights. He made some coffee, something he seemed
to do more often nowadays, and sat in one of the old booths. He went over the
papers that they received the other night. He had already memorized them, but
they seemed to put him to sleep. He contemplated that he might have insomnia
for a moment before reading.
Saturday,
November 2 AC 198-3:15
Heero had been reading for three hours
when a person made him look up.
“Heero, we have to leave in a few hours;
you’re going to need those hours of sleep,” Jet told him as she sipped his
coffee.
“I can’t sleep,” he told her, “I’m just
going over the papers one last time.”
“There’s nothing there,” she said,
exasperated, as she sat across from him in the booth, “It’s just Noin saying
that Zechs found out that someone else is working with Khushrenada. I don’t see
why JL would need financial support, but he must be doing something more.”
“The mystery man is the one that took me
out of the scene,” Heero said.
“You mean he’s the one that ordered your
beating?” she questioned.
He glared before answering, “Yes, the ones
who got to me were commanded by him. I don’t know who he is, but I am beginning
to think he is more of a threat than James Lee Khushrenada.”
“Why is that?”
“Khushrenada just wants to rule the
colonies or at least rule something. This other man seems to want nothing to do
with that.”
“And he’s more dangerous for that?” she
asked in a mocking tone. Before Heero explained what he meant, her eyes widened
in comprehension. “You mean you think he’s just toying with Khushrenada?” He
nodded. “So this unidentified guy helped Khushrenada is other ways than money,
like beating you up,”—he glared—“and eventually he’ll just take it all away or
otherwise torment him? Then he’ll probably use someone else…. He could have
already done it!”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“Then, if we find out other ways that he
helped Khushrenada, we should be able to figure out who the guy is and get rid
of him.”
“Well, we know he can navigate through the
Winner Company easily enough.”
“Because he must have been the one who did
all those orders and warned Quatre’s employees so that we’d be tipped off,” she
described, “And the company has been running pretty smoothly since JL took
over, so that guy must know the corporation pretty well. He has this master
plan?”
He nodded, “Where we have probably played
our parts as he wanted us to. I doubt he’s just an employee.”
“What are you saying?”
“With all the other evidence that’s
happening, this man must be related to Quatre.”
Monday,
November 4 AC 198
Mariemaia looked outside. The rain was
pouring. It had been for a few days. It was also freezing cold. The rain was
beginning to turn to slush, which would soon be snow. It was a typical November
in
“Marie?” asked Carla, “What’s wrong?”
“Just a bit worried, I guess,” she
admitted.
“About Frau Une?” Carla inquired.
Mariemaia nodded.
“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Mariemaia said,
“It’s just…she’s the last thing I have to a parent. I never knew my father, and
all my memories of my mother have been fading through the years. Dekim was my
grandfather, but he didn’t act the part. She’s the closest think I’ll ever
have.”
Carla nodded sympathetically, “Nothing
will happen to her, nothing too serious at least. I’m sure she’ll be back for
you soon.”
“But what if she’s not? What if she dies?”
she asked almost desperately, “What if she doesn’t come back for me?”
“She’ll come back for you,” her closest
friend comforted, “Frau Une loves you like her own child. Don’t you remember
telling us that? Let’s play a game.”
She sniffed, “Okay…how about Battleship®?”
Carla agreed and took out the young girl’s more favored games, setting up her
side.
“So, I think I know how to play this
game…fairly well,” Carla disclosed, “But you’ll probably beat me easily.” The
schoolgirl started to put the ships in random places, not really having a
strategy at all.
“Well, I’ve been playing games like this
for years by myself,” Mariemaia explained, “So we’ll just see if I make it easy
for myself or not.” She put the pieces in a way she figured her opponent would
not think, always having a stratagem.
Carla smiled, “Yeah, I guess so. What do
you want to do when you grow up?”
Mariemaia shrugged, “I’m not sure, G-6.
Most of my life, I just assumed I’d rule the world. I guess I want to be a
Preventer.”
“Miss,” declared Carla, “Well, that’d be
fun. I think I’d like to be one, too. Elsa and Anna just want to be mothers.
They’re nice girls and all, but I’m glad to have you around, even if you are a
bit younger. You’re more fun than they are sometimes, H-1. It must have been
disappointing when you were defeated.”
“Miss. I was only seven at the time, so I
didn’t totally understand that I had been defeated and couldn’t just pick up
where I left off. Still, they don’t let me read that much about the ‘Mariemaia
Incident.’ I don’t know why, A-2.”
“Hit, damn. I guess maybe, B-6, they think
you got too close to taking over and will try it again. Would you really try to
take over the Earth?”
“With Une as my guardian, I probably
won’t, but if she weren’t with me, I think in all probability I would. That’s
another miss, A-3. So, unless I get a sudden urge to be dictator, I’ll most
likely try to be a Preventer. Heck, I may even get Mom’s position one day.”
Carla cringed, “I hate to say it, but you
hit it again. How about J-3? Do you know what it takes to be a Preventer?”
“Of course, I do, miss. They have this
training program. You have to pass the mental test, testing how you handle
situations, the physical test, basically shooting and fitness, and the written
test, testing your knowledge of procedures. The only test I’d fail would be the
mental one because they try really hard to break you and make you crack into
telling them anything, A-4.”
“You sank my submarine! So everyone has to
pass being cracked, C-6?”
“Another miss, well, there are only a few
individuals who didn’t have to go through those tests, D-9.”
Carla groaned, “Not another hit…. Who
didn’t have to go through it?”
“The Gundam pilots, Ms. Noin, Mr. Zechs,
and Ms. Po”
Wednesday,
November 6 AC 198
“HI!” Sylvia practically screamed as she
popped up behind Relena and Amaya. She giggled and skipped through the market,
taking in all that was around her, talking to random people, who were amazed at
being talked up a storm by a rather bubbly stranger.
“Is she going to be like this during the
whole shopping trip?” Amaya asked, leaning towards Relena some.
“Probably,” Relena answered, “I mean we
did just get out.” They were walking through an open market on Colony L-3C6277.
“You think anyone will notice you or
Quatre?” Amaya wondered.
“I doubt it, really,” Relena answered,
“Our hair’s grown out in the past few months, and our clothes are different.
So, I don’t think we’ll be noticed anytime soon unless someone looks really
close at us…or Sylvia goes blabbing about it.”
Sylvia and Amaya’s hair did not look too
different, just a bit longer, since their bangs disappeared to combine with
their hair. Quatre was in obvious need of a hair cut, he was starting to look
very shaggy. Relena’s bangs were as long as Milliardo’s and hair was Duo’s
length. Her hair grew pretty quickly, and she had already been in need of a
haircut before she was captured.
They also had already changed clothes.
Sylvia wore comfortable-fitting jeans, a tighter green T-shirt with the words
“Don’t feed boys,” and tennis shoes, Relena was dressed in loafers, a dark red,
knee-length skirt, and a black sleeveless shirt, Amaya sported a black
tank-top, a mildly flowing, full-length black skirt with flowers on it, and
black sandals with some heel, and Quatre was wearing something—the girls had
gotten separated from him before they found out into what he changed. Luckily,
the colony on which they were was warm for November.
The two girls grabbed their friend from
harassing yet another saleslady.
“Where did Quatre go?” Sylvia inquired.
“He went to get a haircut and something
else,” Relena explained.
“Doesn’t he love us?” Sylvia pouted. She
was on something, Amaya swore.
“He said he had to be away from girls for
a couple of hours and that he’d meet us for dinner. I think he found himself
using words and phrases like ‘cute,’ ‘I read that Cosmo,’ and singing lyrics of Britney Spears,” Amaya explained.
Britney Spears still haunted them. Before the two pacifists came to live with
them, Amaya and Sylvia had complained and demanded until JL Khushrenada gave
them magazines, books, and a few other things, but he never gave them the
television they ordered….
“I can’t help it if I like her,” Relena
said indignantly.
“You can help that you played her music
almost non-stop,” Sylvia muttered.
“I’ll kill Khushrenada for giving you that
God awful CD,” Amaya shuttered.
Thursday,
November 7 AC 198-1:15
Caitlyn cried. It seemed she was always
crying. Duo got up after Hilde prodded him quite forcefully. He picked up his
daughter and walked around the hotel room. He rubbed his eye with his free hand
and bounced the small babe with the other. He looked at the clock:
“Happy Birthday,” he congratulated,
“You’re one week old today.” He got out a bottle of pumped breast milk and
tried to feed Caitlyn. She would not take it. He tried to make her laugh, but
she kept crying. Eventually he decided to get her a bit of fresh air, so he got
in the elevator.
“Once we’re downstairs,” he informed his
young daughter, “I’ll walk you around the lobby and down the sidewalk some.”
However, he did not have to do that. As soon as the elevator moved, Caitlyn
quieted.
“Wow!” Duo exclaimed, “This is a great
discovery.” He kept going between floors for almost an hour when he got a call
on his cell phone, which he had not realized he had taken with him.
“This is Duo,” he greeted.
“Duo, we’re going to need you over here,”
Dorothy explained over the phone, “Right now.”
“No can do,” Duo told her, “I have a
crying baby on my arm.”
“I don’t hear anything.”
“She’s quiet right now because I’m riding
the elevator. It makes her silent.”
She seemed to be talking to the others for
a little bit before coming back to talk to him, “Sally says to bring her with
you. We’ll take care of her.”
“Okay, let me go talk to Hilde, and I’ll be
there soon.”
“Don’t take too long”
“Yeah, yeah,” Duo said, “Mafia princess.”
He hung before she could tell him to shut up and stuff it then to tell Hilde.
Thursday,
November 7 AC 185-14:30
Nabil, now ten, walked down the corridors
of the mansion. His mother had brought him, for she wanted to try, yet again,
with her brother. His little cousin was a bit older now. He had a tutor now,
but he still kept his nanny.
“Nabil!” shouted the five year old boy as
he ran up to his older cousin. Nabil turned to look at him.
“What is it, Quatre?”
“I’m glad you came,” he grinned and hugged
his cousin. Nabil put on an obvious fake smile and just stood there.
“What are you going do while you’re here?”
Quatre inquired, hoping he would be involved in the plans, “Do you want to come
see my toys?”
Before Nabil could answer, Quatre’s tutor
called him back into the room to finish the lessons and leave visiting for
later in the day. Quatre said good bye with a wave and went back to his tutor.
Nabil kept searching the corridors in his
quest.
Thursday,
November 7 AC 198-2:45
Duo groggily walked into where Trowa,
Wufei, Sally, and Dorothy were. Caitlyn was starting to get upset again. The car
ride had almost put her to sleep, but she awoke as soon as it finished. Dorothy
took the baby and took her into the elevator. They decided to take turns as
long as they kept Duo with them.
“What is it?” Duo asked.
“Do you know what’s been happening in
space?” Wufei queried.
“I heard that Heero and Jet have started
battles again,” he told them, “But that’s all. What are they doing now?”
“They’ll be here soon,” Sally said.
“How do you know that?”
“There’s another man,” Trowa told him, his
arm around Midii.
“Catherine went to Noin and Zechs,” she
said, “We got evicted from a ‘nice’ Chinese woman and her kid. We were supposed
to stay there until mid-November.”
“Who were you staying with?”
“Catherine never told me her last name,
but I think her first name was Mei. Her daughter was called Ling Ling,” she
explained.
“That’s nice,” Duo said sleepily.
Midii rolled her eyes, “We think she has
something to do JL Khushrenada. The little girl told us she was going to his
house while we were babysitting her.”
“You were babysitting?” asked Wufei.
“Yeah, yeah,” Midii said as if she heard
it already. She showed them a picture of the girl since she had not been able
to get a picture of the woman.
“She reminds a bit of you, Wufei,” Sally
said as she looked at the picture.
“Her mother looks much like you, too,”
Midii said. Wufei rolled his eyes but kept the picture, muttering about how
they could not tell the difference between Chinese people.
Thursday,
November 7 AC 185-15:15
Nabil finally found the door behind which
his mother was. For some reason, she liked to haggle her brother periodically.
“Alim, you cannot say that you haven’t
seen the winds change and not in our favor,” she argued.
“I
won’t support anything or anyone who promotes solving this problem with force,”
he disputed, “I refuse to! I can’t stop you from giving your inheritance away
to him, but I wish you wouldn’t. You have your son to think of; don’t you want
to leave him any money? If you kept your money, you could afford to have
another child.”
“I don’t want another child,” she spat, “I
won’t bring another one into this world as long as it’s against us. Give me the
money. It’s not just helping protect my son but yours too. Your children will
be safe.”
“Why are you so egocentric that you think
they just hate our family? Why do you think we are the only who suffers? There
are a lot more out there suffering, and if this is all that we suffer, we can
easily bear it.”
“Alim, you doom this family. They will
rise against us.”
“I will not give you any money for that
purpose. It’s best you leave now.”
Saturday,
November 9 AC 198
Catherine finished making soup and poured
the broth into four bowls before bringing them out to the others in the
recreation room. Noin, Zechs, and her friend were waiting. She set the tray
down on the coffee table so that everyone could take a bowl.
“Mei,” started Catherine, “You need to
tell us all that you know.”
Noin nodded in agreement, “Whatever JL
Khushrenada is giving you, it won’t be good. You have to think of your
daughter.”
Mei’s jaw was locked tight, “That’s not
true. JL Khushrenada is dead anyway. An assassin killed him nearly a month ago.
Li Yen will take care of us. Is this why you brought me here?”
“Mei, please, just tell us,” pleaded
Catherine. Mei glared a bit.
“If you do, you’ll be spared when this
thing is all over with. We won’t prosecute you or anything,” promised Noin. Mei
seemed to contemplate on this. Unmistakably thinking if her current side would
win or not. She looked at Catherine and pulled herself up.
“I don’t know much,” she acknowledged, “I
know Khushrenada is dead, and some man let Li Yen take over. Yen won’t give up
control without a fight; in fact, she’s almost finished her army. Khushrenada
had gotten some plans from the Winner documents on how to build mobile suits,
and he had started them, so Yen used the same. She’s about to deploy them.
She’s been using Khushrenada’s remaining troops to fight those two Gundams out
there.” Zechs finished his soup and set it down.
“Do you know anything else?” Catherine
asked.
Mei shook her head, “Yen doesn’t really
tell me that much….” She looked down at her hands.
Noin paused for a few moments, “Where is
your daughter right now?”
“She’s at a day care,” Mei answered.
“We’ll have to get her,” Noin told her,
“Soon because we need to get you out of here.”
“I have a friend there,” Mei informed
them, “If I don’t come get her by three this afternoon, she’s to take Ling Ling
down to Earth to see her father.”
“You’ve had this planned?”
“I didn’t think I’d be running from Yen. I
thought I’d be killed or something by you people.”
“Who is Ling’s father?”
“That is not your business,” Mei told them
testily.
“It doesn’t matter,” Zechs finally spoke
up, “Obviously your friend there knows how to get past security since very few
people can travel between Earth and the colonies. Now that the child is safe and
secure, we need a way to get into Khushrenada’s mansion so that we can confront
Li Yen.” The women nodded, realizing he spoke the truth.
Without warning, soldiers busted through
the doors, shooting at the occupants in the room. All four scurried for cover.
Noin and Zechs were firing back in a heartbeat. Two soldiers fell down, and
none came to fill their place. Zechs took down three more, and the remaining
troops ran out after throwing in a grenade. Fortunately for them, the grenade
just made a bright light and a loud detonation to disorient them.
When they finally became oriented,
Catherine was the first to talk, “What the hell was that?”
“It was a flash-bang grenade,” Zechs
informed, “It’s mainly used when you want to disorient the enemy and then
conquer them while they’re baffled.”
“Then why didn’t they overwhelm us?”
“It’s also used for quick escapes,” Noin
explained, “Or they grabbed the wrong grenade.”
“Where’s Mei?” Catherine asked, looking
around. They heard a moan from behind the couch. Mei was lying there with a few
gunshot wounds to her abdomen. Zechs picked her up.
“We need to get her to a hospital,” he
said without needing to, “Then we need to get to Earth.”
“What about Ling?”
“She’ll be taken care of by that friend.
Yen obviously knows about Mei, and she’s after her.”
They rushed her over to the hospital
where, oddly enough, Iria Winner was there to take the young woman.
Sunday,
November 10 AC 198-11:45
“Are you sure?” asked Sally Po.
“I’m
positive,” Iria Winner told her, “I didn’t believe it at first, but she
insisted it was and her records do check out.”
“This is such a surprise,” Sally said, “I
didn’t think she’d be alive. Where has she been, Dr. Winner?”
“According to the records, she was sent
off colony for her injuries. He didn’t know about it since the clan thought he
wouldn’t leave if he knew she were alive. She stayed in other L-5 colonies for
the last few years. She was told he was dead,” Iria reported.
“I don’t know how he’ll take it,” Sally
admitted, “He doesn’t even talk about that time in his life.”
“Dr. Po, he has to know. His daughter is
coming soon anyway,” Iria informed.
“His daughter?” Sally asked, incredulous.
Iria nodded.
“Yes, Ling An.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll break it to him as
gently as I can.”
“Thank you, Dr. Po. It will make my
patient feel much easier.”
“You’re welcome, Dr. Winner, and call me
Sally, please. Your little brother is friends with my partner, who is like my own
little brother at times.”
Iria smiled, “Then call me Iria.”
Sunday,
November 10 AC 198-12:30
“What?” Wufei practically screamed,
“That’s a lie!”
“Wufei, it’s not, and you know it.”
“They wouldn’t have lied to me! Long
Shirin wouldn’t have told me she was dead. She died in my arms.”
“She had a faint pulse, and you were too
upset to feel it. Your daughter is coming here soon anyway.”
“My daughter?”
She nodded, “Yes, she gave you a daughter.
They don’t know when she’ll be able to come down, but your daughter is already
on her way.”
Wednesday,
November 13 AC 198
“Are you sure we should?” asked Carla.
“It’s a little too late for that,”
Mariemaia told her. They slowly crept in the shadows.
“There!” Mariemaia pointed at a building,
“That’s where Mom is, I’m sure of it.”
“Will she be mad at us?” Carla asked.
“Of course she will,” Mariemaia told him,
“But she can’t send us back now.” Before long, seven figures walked out of the
building.
“Who are those people?” inquired Carla.
“The shortest one is Chang Wufei. The
tallest one is Trowa Barton. The man who’s almost as tall as he is and has a
braid is Duo Maxwell. I’m sure you know my mother. The woman next to her, the
one with the twists, that’s Sally Po. The girl in the back with the really long
hair is Dorothy Catalonia. That one who’s just barely taller than Wufei is
Midii Une, I think,” Mariemaia explained. Carla nodded along with most of the
names. At Dorothy’s name, she gasped, but she became perplexed at Midii’s name.
“Is she related to you?” asked Carla.
Mariemaia shrugged, “Not that I know of.”
They went through the shadows once more and eventually fell behind the crowd,
following them. Trowa turned his head slightly but said nothing. Wufei looked
at them, his eyes widened, but he too kept his mouth shut. Duo slowed down so
that he was behind the girls, and Trowa followed suit. In time they came across
another building. It looked like its primary use was offices. Everyone filed into
it. Carla and Mariemaia were stymied that the boys did not say a thing to them.
However, once they were inside, the silence stopped.
“MARIEMAIA ALYSSA KHUSHRENADA-BARTON!”
shouted Une at the top of her voice. The others moved back a bit, putting Mariemaia
and Carla directly in front of her.
“WHAT IN THE WORLD WERE YOU TWO THINKING?”
she once again shouted, “You left
“So the rugrat finally snapped,” Duo
commented. Wufei looked at him but otherwise ignored him as the others did.
“You finally came,” Jet said as she jumped
down from nowhere. Heero appeared behind her. “We’ve been waiting for a couple
of days.” Both walked over to the others.
“So what’s this about?” inquired Duo.
“We’re almost to the end,” Jet reported,
“Zechs helped us figure out who’s behind this all.” She closed her eyes as she
leaned against a wall.
“And here I was thinking JL Khushrenada
was behind it all,” Duo said with a mocking tone. Heero sent him a quick glare.
“If my uncle isn’t behind it all, why was
he the front man in the first place?” Dorothy asked, “Why did he use Melita?
Did you ever find out who that girl was that he wanted?”
Jet shook her head.
“We still don’t know the girl he wants,
but I guess it doesn’t matter anymore since he’s dead.”
The
others were shocked and stared. “What??!”
“JL Khushrenada was killed exactly one
month ago. He was killed by an assassin named Alex; she won’t give out a last
name. Khushrenada has been replaced by a woman named Li Yen.” Wufei gasped ever
so slightly. “She has finished her own army of mobile suits where she has
gotten the designs from the Winner Company. We don’t know her motivation for
taking over the colonies.”
“Li Yen just wants to dominate,” Wufei
told them, “She was one of my late wife’s friends, or so she claimed. Li hated
everyone and thought they should suffer.”
“Why?”
“She was weak,” he continued with a sigh
when everyone gave him a look, “I don’t know. It’s not like the woman ever
explained anything she ever did or wanted. I didn’t really ask either.”
“How old is she?” inquired Duo.
“Now, she would be twenty-five.”
“And she was your wife’s friend?” Dorothy
asked, shocked a bit.
“She was actually the friend of my wife’s
older sister, but when Zhi died, Li went to work on her younger sister.”
“There’s a man controlling Yen,” informed
Heero, “The same who controlled Khushrenada.”
“Really?” asked Sally. Heero nodded.
“That’s not all,” Jet told them, “He’s
been using a lot of Winner resources.”
“That’s not good for Quatre’s company,”
Midii quietly said.
“We’ve found out something that Quatre
won’t like more than the company,” Jet updated, “We’ve been able to determine
that this mystery man is a relative of Quatre’s.” Everyone gasped a bit. “We
don’t know why he’s doing this.”
“I have something for you to see,” Heero
told them.
“Good,” Trowa said, “Because we have
information on that crystal.” The others went with Heero to see about the
Gundams.
“Sally,” called Jet, “wait up.” Sally
stalled,
“What is it?”
“I have someone that wants to see you,”
she informed, “She’s been asking for you.” Sally nodded and followed the
younger woman. Jet punched a few keys and the door slid open. Inside the room,
a woman with black hair was lying on a bed. She looked pale.
“Who is this?” the doctor asked, “What
happened to her?”
“She’s basically healed. I don’t know what
happened because she won’t say, but she wants to see you desperately. She must
really want you for a doctor,” Jet explained, “This is the semi-infamous Alex
Heero told you about.” Jet left them.
“You’ve asked for me by name?” Sally
questioned the woman who looked no older than she was as she sat next to her,
“Why?”
Alex stared at the ceiling for a few
moments before responding, “We’re related.”
“What?”
“Your mother was my aunt,” Alex informed,
“She probably didn’t tell you about my father, your uncle and her brother. My
parents weren’t exactly the family type.”
“And what type were they?”
A deep breath, “My mother was the one who
trained me to be an assassin. She never killed anyone, but she knew all the
arts to it. My father was the actual assassin, but he was gone most of the
time. They were pretty well taught in chemistry. They did a lot of work for JL
Khushrenada throughout the years. He’s the one who paid for my schooling and
everything I needed over the years. In spite of this, he came to a point where
my family knew too much, so he had them all killed. One by one, throughout the
years, I lost everyone. I had a librarian look up my remaining family. You’re
it, except for some distant cousin.”
Sally stared at the woman. Alex looked at
her.
“I wanted to talk to you for a few months,
but I could never get you alone. I confronted JL Khushrenada and killed him
like I told Jet I would when I met you and those other girls at that café.
Before he died, he told me that my parents committed suicide instead of him
killing them. He said there was only one request from them: to leave you and me
alone.”
Sally took in a sharp breath. She knew her
parents had committed suicide, but she never knew why.
Thursday,
November 14 AC 198
Ling An clung to her doll. She was meeting
her father for the first time in a few minutes, and she was very excited. As
she got off the shuttle, she looked around for the man, leaving her protector.
“Ling Ling!” shouted the woman you had
been watching over her. However, Ling had found her father. Wufei stretched out
his arms and picked up the very small girl. Ling held him very closely.
“Papa!” she shouted. After a few words
with the woman who had helped Ling come to Earth, Wufei took Ling’s one bag and
took her to his current residence. Meanwhile, the little girl chatted up a
storm.
“Why don’t we have a look at that doll of
yours?” suggested Wufei. His daughter proudly displayed the doll. Wufei
slightly paled at it.
“Her name’s Kiara!” Ling proudly said.
“I know,” Wufei said softly, “Where did
you get this? Li Yen?”
“Yes! How did you know?” she asked.
“I just know,” Wufei told her. He took the
doll, giving her another one, to put in a safe with the other doll that had
been given to Hilde.
Saturday,
November 16 AC 198
Static cleared on the television screen. A
reporter straggled into view. He coughed, blood evident, and did not bother to
wipe it from his mouth. His voice cracked as he struggled to talk.
“The effect was devastating.” He coughed.
“The whole colony…is literally a wasteland. Two-thirds of the population is
dead already. The other third begs for death.” He coughed much more
aggressively. “The virus that was unleashed here has spread rapidly”—another
cough—“with everyone living so close together. There is bleeding all over.
People keep coughing up blood. Joints ache, and I swear the heart hurts. I
swear that….” Before he could finish the sentence, the journalist died on
screen. However, the network changed to an anchor from Earth.
“The same virus that is infecting Colonies
L-1K873, L-1H98733, L-2R3059, L-2T672, L-2B59915, L-2O33720, L-3V10087, L-3790,
L-4Q577, L-5E12583, and L-5G23086 has started to contaminate cities on Earth.
People in
Monday,
November 18 AC 198
Yen surveyed her mobile suit army.
Magnificent, it was simply magnificent. Yen smiled at this. Oleksandr Schbeiker
was gone, taken out by his sister’s boyfriend. This paved the way for her
victory over Earth. She paid no heed to the colonies with viruses. On Earth, it
weakened the people’s spirits, so it worked to her advantage. She did not know
where or how the virus came, but she did not care either. People under her care
did not matter. She would worry about that later when she ruled them all, or
not.
“Ms. Yen,” a soldier stood at attention,
“The troops are finished. They are ready for deployment at your word.” Yen
nodded.
“Good, good,” she acknowledged, “That is
all for now,
“Ma’am!” he said then left to carry out
her will. Her will. She liked the sound of that. She smiled smugly at this. Mei
may have abandoned her and her daughter to go to the enemy, to her “husband,”
but it was not like she had had much faith in the girl. She was still young, as
were those pilots.
She looked down at the suits once more,
scrutinizing them. Khushrenada came to her mind. His prisoners were gone, had
left a couple of weeks ago. At first, she did not think a thing of it and had
not pursued them, but now she had spies out looking for the escapees. She would
have them soon, and they could inform her about this crystal. She had come
across it many times in Khushrenada’s notes, but none of them told her why he
needed it that badly. Her face screwed up in annoyance at not knowing.
“He would know,” she thought to herself.
Nevertheless, she had promised not to contact him, not to need his help
anymore. She would not ask him at all what this meant. After getting the
crystal, she could have it analyzed if the pacifists refused to talk. This
still did not please her. Khushrenada knew more than she did, not good. What
was she missing? It did not matter. Soon it would be all hers, and they would
have to tell her.
Tuesday,
November 19 AC 198-18:35
Sylvia let the water flow down on her. It
felt refreshing as always, but it also felt like she was washing away all the
germs. So far, their colony was uninfected with disease, but others nearby were
not so lucky. She stood there, thinking of what had happened and was going to
happen.
They had gotten out of their comfortable
prison and were not in a hotel. The owner was good enough. He knew the late
Master Winner and took them in free of charge, though they all insisted on
paying him when they could get their hands on money again. He let them eat
extravagant meals and let them shop putting their clothes and other things on
his bill, and he kept his silence, expecting nothing in return. He treated them
like children acting as though their parents would be there to pick them up at
any moment.
Sylvia bit back tears at the thought of
that. The only one who could have parents come to her was Amaya. Quatre,
Relena, and she were orphans. No one was coming for them…. She realized how
silly it was. They all had other relatives that cared for them, and she even
had her boyfriend. They had friends coming for them, and everything would be
okay.
A knock came from the door.
“Sylvia?” called Relena, “Are you okay?”
“You’ve been in there for a long time,”
Amaya told her. The door and running water muffled both voices.
“I’m coming out in a minute,” she voiced
to them. She turned off the water and dried herself. Then she got dressed and
walked out to both girls with worried expressions.
“I’m fine,” Sylvia let them know,
“Really.”
“I don’t believe you,” Amaya told her.
“Nor do I,” agreed Relena. They followed
her through the halls and down to the dining room for dinner. Quatre was
already in the room talking to the owner. Both men stood as the ladies entered
the room and headed toward the table. They took their seats and ordered their
supper.
“I wish you’d tell us,” Relena voiced as
she straightened her napkin on her lap.
“It’s nothing,” Sylvia told them again.
“What is it?” Quatre asked, worried.
“The girls are overreacting,” Sylvia
quickly said.
“Let us know what is happening,” urged the
owner, “It is not good for you to keep it to yourself.”
“I’m just feeling a little homesick,” she
slightly admitted.
They all eyed her with the owner saying,
“Young lady, there is more to it than that.” Sylvia looked around at the other
tables, desiring to be with them, laughing in that carefree way. Amaya must
have caught her gaze.
“You’ll be back soon enough,” Amaya
assured her, “You’ll see your grandmother soon. We all go through hard times.”
The owner cleared his throat.
“What is it?” asked Quatre.
“You didn’t hear about it?” he inquired.
“Hear about what?” questioned Relena, “We
were never told anything that happened outside the world.”
The owner did not meet Sylvia’s stare as
he made known, “The widow of Marshall Noventa…she died October 23rd.
I’m sorry. I thought you knew.”
Sylvia choked back tears, “My
grandmother…is dead? How-how did she die?”
“They say natural causes, but Iria says
there is reason to suspect otherwise,” he still looked down. Sylvia nodded,
excused herself, and ran out of the room. Amaya stood but was stopped by
Quatre.
“I
think it would be best if I go to her” Relena said, “No offence, but you do not
know what it is like to lose someone close.”
Amaya nodded, “I’ve lost family
members…but you’re right. I still have parents and two grandmothers, even
though I lost countless uncles and three grandfathers.”
“I’ll help you,” Quatre told her. They
both went after Sylvia, leaving Amaya with the owner and five meals.
Tuesday,
November 19 AC 198-21:25
Midii stared at her hands. Nanashi was
gone for the day. The other boys went with him. Some of the girls went, too.
She had wanted to go as well, but she was the only that Ling knew, so she
stayed to watch the little girl. Ling was sound asleep, clutching her new doll.
Midii smiled at the sight. She hoped to have a daughter or son someday.
“We’ll have time for that later,” she told
herself, “After this is done.” She stood and walked through the building they
now occupied. She got a cup of hot chocolate and looked out the window. What
was happening out there? She knew of the disease that mysteriously appeared,
but she knew nothing of what the “leaders” thought. She shook her head.
“When will these battles stop?” she
wondered. A knock came on the door. She walked over and was surprised to see
Hollard there.
“Hollard?” She conjectured, “I thought you
were in space!”
The girl gasped, “Jet took me up to space
and back to Earth. There’s something wrong!”
“What is it?”
“The Gundams….”
“What about them? Aren’t the guys over
there with them?”
The
small teenager shook her head, “No, they’re not. I really hope so, too. The
Gundams are gone! They’ve exploded!”
“What?” screeched Midii, “You have to be
kidding!”
She shook her head once more, “Jet made me
guard them again and I heard a ticking noise…. And then they blew up! Jet’s
going to kill me!” Midii got the girl inside and warmed up. She calmed the girl
down and tried to think of what to do next.
Thursday,
November 21 AC 198
Iria walked back into her patient’s room.
It was quiet as usual, the Chinese girl did not have visitors nor did she talk
aloud or watch television or anything. She glanced at the chart; her condition
was improving, good.
“How are we today?” Iria asked. The girl
remained silent. “You can’t stay silent forever. Your husband informed me that
he’ll be coming for you soon, so you should be happy for that.”
“He can’t do that. You can’t let him do
that,” the girl softly protested, there was almost begging in her voice.
“Why not?”
“I’m not his wife,” the girl was still not
looking at the doctor.
“What do you mean? You told me you were.
Your daughter, that little girl went to Earth. You’re name is Meiran!”
She shook her head, “I said my name is Mei
and that the girl was Wufei’s daughter. All that is true. Meiran was a good
friend of mine. She had a daughter for her scholar before he knew about it
since he was away at school. I can’t remember anymore why she didn’t want him
to know, but I took her daughter and was to give her back when I thought Wufei
could handle it. He was a Gundam pilot and unstable during and after the war,
so I waited until he had a firm job, which is as a Preventer. Yen found out,
and I had to get her away.”
“Then what is your real name?”
“Yang Meiying.”
Iria
stared at her, “Why is Li Yen after you or the girl? Does Ling Ling know you’re
not her mother?”
“Ling Ling knows only her father. I leave
him to tell her of her mother. All he needs to know is with that doll of
Ling’s. He’ll find the note eventually. Wufei was right….”
“What do you mean?”
“Li Yen is a madwoman. I don’t know her
problem, but she won’t stop at anything. She wants the child for some reason. I
won’t lead her to that little girl.”
“You don’t have to,” Iria told her, “You’re
safe here, and Ling Ling is with her father.” The young woman did not seem to
agree, but she did not disagree either. Iria decided she was soaking it all in.
She told her that she would be back the next day to see how she was doing.
As Iria left the room, she heard the
machines inside going off. She rushed back in the room to find Mei lying on the
bed with her hands in strange places on her forehead. Mei was dead.
Friday,
November 22 AC 198
Quatre lazily brought himself to the bed.
He was happy to be to bed finally. He took off his clothes and changed into
sleepwear. He got under the covers and smiled to himself, happy to be getting
sleep. He was almost to sleep when a loud, urgent banging came from his door.
He was agitated to say the least, but he got up and answered it all the same.
Amaya was there, looking frantic.
“What is it?” he asked, weary.
“Where’s Sylvia?”
“What? I would think she’d be in her bed.”
“But she’s not! Quatre, she’s not in
there!”
“I’m sure she’s somewhere,” he told her,
sleepier.
“Quatre, Relena went to the room to see if
she was okay for the night, and she wasn’t there. She got me up, and we
searched the whole hotel. Relena’s talking to the owner and security guys right
now. Where could she be?”
“Calm down,” he instructed, waking up,
“I’m sure it’s nothing. She probably just went for a walk.” Amaya shook her
head. “Are you keeping something from me?” Amaya did not meet his gaze. “Amaya,
tell me.”
“I got a note….”
“What is it? What did it say?”
“Someone called Li Yen has her…. She said
she wants that crystal you have, and she wants us to tell her about it.”
Quatre closed his eyes, “Oh, does she? Who
is Li Yen?”
“She’s the one who succeeded Khushrenada.”
“There you two are,” the owner said,
relieved, “I was beginning to worry.”
“Why?”
“The security cameras and other measures
have been sabotaged. We don’t have anyone under surveillance. The Vice Foreign
Minister has been taken as well,” he informed them. Then he ushered them into a
new room.
How
was this? Oh, I hope this is going
well.