Disclaimer: See previous
part(s). I hope I got my German spelling correct for the lullaby.
Friday,
December 20 AC 198
Dorothy growled under her breath.
“What is it?” asked Quatre.
“Nothing,” she answered, barely audible.
She looked out the window.
“Are you sure?” he asked again. Dorothy
did not answer. It was burning a hole in her pocket.
“I won’t make you tell me if you don’t
want to,” Quatre told her.
She muttered thanks. She could feel the
contents of her pocket.
Dear Dora,
I’m sure by now that you are getting tired
of my nickname for you, but as I said before, it is shorter than Dorothy. This
will be your last letter. Are you sad? This is almost done. That key goes to
your top drawer in the former office of your grandfather, Duke Dermail. By the
way, I almost forgot to ask how it goes with you managing everyone’s assets. I
know that the Duke left you with the remnants of Romefeller. You will be
happy…or upset…to hear that with me dead, you are my father’s heir. Yes, when
he dies, you get it all, more paperwork. Get your reward now. You will hear no
more from your silly cousin. I love you, my darling cousin. Please, forgive me.
Affectionately,
Melita Khushrenada
Sunday, December 22 AC 198
Hilde sang a lullaby to her small
daughter. She smiled as the baby cooed and gurgled. Oleksandr sulked in the
back. He was forced to help his older sister with her child. He knew, though,
that as soon as everything was finished, he was going to court to be tried for
his crimes. He was not sure what they were, but Hilde assured him that they
would tell him what they were.
“I can’t believe you did that!” she said
as she changed Caitlyn’s diaper.
“What? I said I’m sorry! It seemed like a
good idea at the time.”
“Oleksandr Adrian Schbeiker!”
“I always wanted to rule Earth…. Since I
was just sitting in boarding school on Earth, I decided to go for it,” he
informed, “My friends thought it was great idea.”
“Your friends are idiots.”
“No they’re not! Well, yes…they are, sort
of. Okay, yeah, they’re complete imbeciles, but I still value their opinion.”
“I don’t know why.”
“You’re lucky Mom and Dad are dead,” he
told her, changing the subject.
“Why is that?” she asked.
“You’re eighteen, not married, and have a
kid,” he pointed out.
“Shut up!” she almost yelled. Then she
left the room. At this point, Caitlyn started to cry. A knock came from the
door. Oleksandr opened it while bouncing Caitlyn and found two nuns.
Oleksandr blinked, “Hello, Sisters.”
They smiled, “Hello is your sister home?”
“Uh, yeah, she is…but I think I upset
her.” The nuns simply smiled more and came in when he offered. They found Hilde
immediately and went to have a private chat with her.
Oleksandr batted his eyelids, “Okay, just
go.” He kept bouncing the infant as he kept screaming her head off.
“Just sing to her!” called Hilde, “She
likes Brahms’ Lullaby!”
“I don’t the words in English! Mum always
sang in German!” he retorted.
“Then sing it in German!!” she called. He
muttered fine before singing,
“Guten Abend,
gute Nacht, Mit Rosen bedacth,
Mit Naeglein besteckt, schlupf unter die Deck’
Morgen frueh, wenn Gott
will, wirst du weider geweckt
Morgen frueh, wenn Gott
will, wirst du weider geweckt
Guten Abend, gue
Nacht, Von Englein bewacht
Die zeigen im Traum, dir Christkindleins
Baum
Schlaf
nun selig und sues, Schau im Traum’s Paradies
Schlaf
nun selig und sues, Schau im Traum’s Paradies”
After the song, Caitlyn calmed. She
settled in his arms and fell asleep.
Tuesday, December 24 AC 198-5:45
(Colony L-4Y45263)
“Are you ready?” Quatre asked over the
phone.
A voice groggy with sleep answered, “Did
you know that a
He could not help but chuckle some, “Yes,
I’ve known that for some time.”
“The sun isn’t even up,” the voice was in
need of sleep, “No one’s stupid enough to be up at this hour…except us.”
“Yes, yes,” he said patiently, “Now, you
need to do your part.”
“And then I can sleep?”
“When this is done, I promise you can
sleep all you want.”
“Yay!”
Tuesday, December 24 AC
198-5:50 (Colony L-2N64370)
Dolly Court was reporting about the
wonderful new daycare center, “And they always have plenty of juice and
crackers for the little ones.” Her grin was white and wide, exactly how she
wanted it. Her hair was well-groomed, and she was excited about being able to
report from the colonies.
“The workers here wish everyone a merry
Christmas,” she smiled, about to add her own greeting, but she was cut-off by
an overriding program. Suddenly little creatures popped up and said hello
before bouncing along the hills.
“What the hell happened?” asked the producer,
“Fix it!”
“Um, we can’t,” sheepishly admitted the
technician.
“Why not?”
“Someone’s superseding all of our
programming with this stupid show,” the technician answered.
“Damn it,” cursed the producer.
“What happened to my big debut to the
colonies?” inquired Dolly, seeing the broadcasting light off.
“Someone’s bumped us off,” her cameraman
informed her.
“I’m calling Joe!” she announced, picking
up her phone and dialing. However, she was not greeted with ringing of
connecting the call but with the voices and giggles of the creatures on the
television.
“I wonder what’s going on,” speculated the
cameraman.
“Oh,” she said, clearly upset, “I hate
television!”
Tuesday, December 24 AC 198-6:00
(Colony L-3C6445)
“Do you think everything’s ready?” asked
Duo.
“Why don’t you pick up the phone?”
suggested Wufei. Duo shrugged and picked up the phone where he heard giggling,
high-pitched voices. He dialed a few numbers and got nothing except the same
voices.
“Yeah, Amaya has that block going on,” he
reported.
“What is the code we need to get it
through?” inquired his partner.
“Uh…” Duo quickly searched his memory,
“I’m not sure…. Did she ever tell you? Did she ever say?”
“You don’t know?” Wufei asked, alerted, “I
wasn’t told!”
“Now how will we get through?” Duo
conjectured, “We can’t call her now!”
“You should have asked before this,
Maxwell!” Wufei snapped.
“So should you have, Chang,” Duo
replied angrily.
Tuesday, December 24 AC
198-6:00 (Colony L-4Y45263)
“Sally, the overruling started,” Catherine
informed, “I want to ask Jet something. What’s the code?”
Sally looked at her, alarmed, “You don’t
know?”
“I thought you did,” confessed Catherine,
pale as her co-worker, “You don’t know it?
“We’re screwed,” declared Sally. She got
out her personal code activator (PCA) and stared at it. After a few moments,
she started pressing random buttons.
“I’m thinking just pressing any button
won’t help us at all,” Catherine said.
“I know, I know,” Sally said, “But it
couldn’t hurt.”
On the other side of the colony, a similar
conversation was being held.
“What do you mean you don’t know that
code?” Jet all but screamed, “You’re the one who taught her how to do all that!
And you didn’t get that code?”
“She
hadn’t decided at that point,” Heero explained, slightly afraid but you could
not really tell, “and I got called away…by you!”
“We didn’t leave that second!” she pointed
out, “You could have talked to her later!”
“So could you!” he called attention to.
“I was busy packing my things and your
things! You just spent time with those pilots, skipping out of work!”
“That’s not what I was doing! Honest!” he
swore. He regained his “Heero-ness” and finished, “I was working on my mission.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Somehow I doubt that.” Heero typed on the
computer.
“Heero! You’re
not helping!”
Inside the Winner residence for the
colony, Sylvia and Relena waited in anticipation. They were anxious to get out
for good. Sally told them that they would be leaving this day.
“Do you have a plan?” inquired Sylvia.
“Nope,” replied Relena, “Do you?”
“Nothing,” she confessed, “I wonder what’s
on the news.” She turned on the television. She was met by colorful creatures
singing in shrill voices.
“What’s that?” asked Relena, wide eyed.
“I have no idea,” Sylvia confessed, “But
it’s on every channel….”
Relena smiled, “That must mean Amaya did
it.”
“We’ll be out of here soon,” squealed
Sylvia. The girls practically jumped and danced around the room.
Tuesday, December 24 AC
198-6:00 (Colony L-1V0853)
“Okay,” Noin announced, “I’m ready to go
to the lab. Are you?”
“Yeah,” Zechs told her, pulling on his
coat. He grabbed his link to the others and stepped outside with his wife.
“How far away is the lab again?” Noin
requested.
“Only a few minutes,” he answered. The two
walked in silence until they got to the lab disguised as a closed florist’s
shop. The door was locked naturally, so Zechs was forced to jimmy it.
“How long do you think it’s been not
operational?”
“A few days,” guessed Zechs. They looked
around the place, noting the different vials marked.
“Isn’t this the cure to that mystery
disease that swept the L-2 colonies a few years ago?” questioned Noin. Zechs
nodded. “We better tell Sally that there are medical cures here.”
“Yes,” he agreed, taking out their link.
He looked at it.
“What is it?” she inquired.
“I just hear some weird gibberish,” he
told her, “What’s the override code?”
“I thought you got it,” she explained.
“You were supposed to get it,” he said.
“No, I was busy looking for the labs and
their contents,” she elucidated.
“I was getting us a place to stay and
transportation. While you had the computer search, you were supposed to get
that code.”
“I told you that it was taking awhile to
‘get the computer to search,’ so you agreed to get the code since you were able
to do all that pretty quickly!”
“You said you had everything under
control!”
“But you promised to get the code!”
“I DID NOT!”
“YES YOU DID!”
Tuesday, December 24 AC
198-6:00 (Colony L-5B4505)
Midii surveyed the last soldiers. They had
no mobile suits and barely guns left, but they had enough things to make
weapons, so they would still be a formidable foe. However, once they came up
against her and her boyfriend, they would lose the battle and be forced to
surrender. Perhaps the trials for their treason would lenient. She smiled at
this.
“This should be easy,” Trowa calmly said.
“Just what I was thinking,” Midii
exclaimed.
“Look at the screen,” Trowa gestured
upwards. Midii looked and smirked.
“So they have no communication,” she said.
“That’s what it looks like. Good thing we
have that code in case we need it.”
She nodded, “Yeah, I know.”
Trowa readjusted himself in order to be
comfier. The remaining troops were not a huge threat to Earth Sphere at the
beginning of the year, but now they could topple the fragile government. In
reality, the enduring militia was a bit much for him and Midii. He was sure she
knew it, but she was one for positive thinking ever since she took that class.
They would simply have to make due with the soldiers until Duo and Wufei could
join them.
“In case we get separated and I need to
contact you or someone, what’s the code?” queried Trowa.
Midii turned and stared at him, “You
didn’t get it?”
Trowa’s eyes widened ever so slightly as
he turned to gaze at her, “No, you…I thought you did.”
Tuesday, December 24 AC
198-6:10
“Hey, guys,” Amaya’s voice came from their
links, “guess you want those codes, huh?” Silence answered her as she knew they
would not respond but glare at her voice.
“That’d be a nice thing,” Sally responded.
“It’s your birthdays,” she enlightened, “I
put each of your birthdays as an override code. That can’t be too hard to
remember, can it?”
“Is this line secure?” Heero inquired.
“I’m fairly certain,” Amaya told them.
“And how did you get our birthdays when
some of us don’t even know or have them?” Duo asked.
“You had to put something down for your
Preventer records, correct?”
“Yeah, so?” Duo
wondered.
“What are you getting at, woman? You don’t
have access to them,” Wufei pointed out.
“Well, I do, and I got your birthdays from
the records, so use whatever you put down,” she instructed.
“How did you get those files?” Zechs
asked. All seemed pretty dismayed about this.
“I let her see your files,” a voice that sounded
familiar said. However, they were not able to identify the speaker right off
hand.
“Who are you?”
“She’s my supplier of infinite knowledge
on all of you, so if I have to change the codes, I have many things from which
to choose. Have fun and good luck!” Amaya signed out, cheerfully.
Tuesday, December 24 AC 198-7:00
(Colony L-4Y45263)
“Okay, we’re inside…finally,” Catherine
whispered.
“It could be worse!” Sally pointed out.
“And it could be better!” Catherine said
under her breath. They slinked through the corridors past doors, searching for
the one that would have the girls behind it.
“What did Zechs and Noin have to say?”
asked Catherine as they continued their hunt.
“They found medical vials, the cures to
some of the diseases there,” Sally let her know; “I’ll have to check them out
later. They’re saving them for me to examine.”
“Ah-ha!”
Catherine exclaimed, “I found the door to their room.”
“Good,” Sally said. They took a few
minutes to get the door open. They walked in, expecting to find the girls
either resting on the couch or talking; however, they were greeted with
abandonment. After a quick search through the rooms, they determined that
neither Relena nor Sylvia was in their previous room of confinement.
“Where could they have gone?” wondered
Catherine.
Sally scratched the back of her head with
her gun, “I’m not so sure…. They didn’t leave us clues, and I doubt that man
knew about this….”
Tuesday, December 24 AC
198-7:15 (Colony L-4Y45263)
“Relena, this was a great idea,” Sylvia
praised, “But what if we miss Catherine and Sally?”
“How can we?” she asked, “We’re taking the
back routes like they would have.”
“But maybe they took the direct route
undercover.”
“No, Sylvia, they must be delayed or
something.”
“You think they’re shot?”
“Not at all, and if they are, Sally’s a
doctor after all. Catherine’s dealt with injuries herself.”
Sylvia sighed a
breath of relief, “I’m glad for that. Which way now?”
“Let’s just take the stairs down,”
suggested Relena.
“Good idea.”
“Thanks.”
Tuesday, December 24 AC
198-7:45 (Colony L-3C6445)
Duo gazed over his set-up. It looked good,
and the machine blinked “set-up ok.” He knew better than to trust that little
mechanism from past experience.
“Is everything done?” Wufei asked.
“I’ve done my share, what about you?”
“Of course I’ve done what I was assigned
to do.”
“So let’s blow this joint. I mean, can’t
this be the end?”
“It better be,” Wufei said, “I’m getting
fed up with these revolts and people not wanting this world.”
“Weren’t you a part of one at one point?”
“Shut up, Maxwell.”
Duo laughed, “Alright, if you say so.” He
pushed the detonation button, and the plant was only alive in memories.
“Let’s go take care of the next one,”
suggest Duo as he leapt down. Wufei followed.
“It’s only an hour away.”
“Oh, goodie, I can’t wait…. I’m beginning
to hate walking.”
“Can we be silent on our way over there?”
“Why
would we do that?”
“Shut up, Maxwell.”
Tuesday, December 24 AC
198-8:00 (Colony L-4Y45263)
“His files are totally deleted from all
his computers,” Jet happily declared.
“Good,” Heero said as he shut his laptop,
“Let Amaya know we’re going into phase two of our part.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Jet said. She punched in one
of the many codes. “Amaya, we’ve finished his computer files and we’re going to
his office now, ok?” However, she was not answered. Instead, slow, rhythmic
breathing was heard from the other end. “Amaya?”
“Why isn’t she responding?” asked Heero.
He listened to Amaya’s end, “Is she sleeping?”
“I think so,” Jet responded, “Amaya!
Amaya, wake up!”
“Ah!” screeched Amaya as she was awoken
from her slumber, “What is it? You don’t have to scream.”
“Well, you shouldn’t be sleeping.”
“Well, I’m tired and I’m not doing
anything. What is it?”
“We’ve finished erasing his computer
files, and we’re going to his office now, ok?” Jet said slowly, pronouncing each
word fully.
“Okay,” Amaya mimicked then reported,
“Sally and Catherine apparently can’t find Relena and Sylvia. Duo and Wufei are
on their way to the next plant. Midii and Trowa are fighting those guys. Zechs
and Noin found medical tubes, so they’re keeping them. Quatre and Dorothy
haven’t reported. In fact, I haven’t heard from Dorothy in a few days. She just
left Quatre, have you guys seen her?”
Jet looked a bit impatient and
exasperated, “No. Now, can we go or do you have any more gossip?”
“I
do, but you don’t sound in the mood for it.”
She rolled her eyes, and Heero turned off
the link.
Tuesday, December 24 AC 198-8:30
(Colony L-1V0853)
Zechs carefully placed the vials in one of
three carrying cases. One was for the medical cures to present to Sally at the
end of the day, and the other two were to jettison off into space as they
returned to Mars.
“Zechs, do you think this will truly be
the end of any major revolts?” Noin asked.
He nodded, “Yes, I do. It better be because
I am tired of making trips to and from the Earth. I would like to stay on Mars
for awhile this time.”
She smiled, “So would
“I know,” he agreed, vigilantly putting
the vials in safe cases, “We barely have time to make a child.”
“But we do,” she smirked, also placing a
vial in the case, “In fact we don’t have to for a year or so.”
He eyed her, “What do you mean? You want to
wait for a kid for a year or something?”
“Zechs! No, I’m
pregnant! I took the test this morning before we left.”
It took all he had not to drop the vial,
“You’re pregnant? Are you serious? Like what Hilde and Duo had a few months
ago?”
She rolled her eyes, “Yes, like Duo and
Hilde had a few months ago. Now, we’ll have to get back to Mars soon or I won’t
be able to travel until after the birth.” Zechs concentrated on getting rid of
the diseases and such. It could have been in Noin’s mind, but it seemed to her
that he was being even more careful than he was before she told him.
Tuesday, December 24 AC
198-8:50 (Colony L-3C6445)
Duo rubbed his neck. This was a bit harder
to pull off than the other one. He placed charges where he figured they would
do the most damage. Nonetheless, the place was strangely built, and there was
no way of telling how it would really work.
“Hey Wufei!” called Duo, “Are you having a
hard time with this place, too?”
His first instinct was either to reply
sarcastically or to deny it and then insult Maxwell on having a hard time, but
after a couple of years with ‘those people,’ he decided to reply honestly,
“Just a bit. This place was definitely made with us in mind for blowing it up.
They wanted to make sure we couldn’t do it so easily.”
“So how’d they know about us?” Duo winked,
“I guess we’re pretty popular and famous.”
“Maxwell, don’t think so highly of yourself. There are many people with lower skills than we
who could have done the exact same thing to that other base. They just made
this one extra hard.”
“Aw, you’re no fun.”
“I can see your daughter will be a
whiner.”
“Hey!”
“Now who can’t take a joke?”
Duo blinked a bit before laughing. It was
a rare opportunity for him to hear one of his comrades
make a joke over which was actually worth laughing.
Tuesday, December 24 AC
198-9:00 (Colony L-5B4505)
“Trowa, how are we going to be able to
pull this off?” asked Midii as she shot and threw ‘flash-bang’ grenades.
“I’m
not sure,” he answered truthfully; “There are a lot more here than we
originally calculated, and even that was a bit much for us to handle!” He was
doing the same as Midii, though he tried to shield her somewhat without her
knowing.
“It’s like they have reserves or
something” Midii shouted at him. Something clicked in Trowa’s mind, and he
pulled Midii behind cover to get out.
“Trowa, how can you think of retreating?”
Midii asked, astonished and appalled.
“I’m not running away,” he explained, “But
I need to contact Amaya, and she won’t be able to hear me with all this
gunfire, and I’m not leaving you here alone.”
“I suppose they’re not going to run out of
bullets or anything while we’re gone,” Midii decided. She followed Trowa out where
he was able to make the call.
“Amaya, I need to ask you something. It’s
important,” Trowa said, “Amaya?” They could hear running water, and Trowa
shouted her name along with Midii. This time the water abruptly stopped as a
door, presumably to a shower, opened and Amaya’s voice came over.
“Yeah? Sorry, I
was getting clean. At least I took it in the room with me.”
“Apologies later,” Midii told her.
“What happened to that ring Quatre gave
you?” Trowa asked her hurriedly. He could hear the soldier searching for them.
“I still have it,” she told him, “Um, why?
Don’t you have more important things to worry about instead of my—”
“The stone! It’s
a crystal, right?”
“Yeah, I suppose it is….”
“Damn it,” Trowa cursed, “We need it here,
now.”
“Is there anyway you could send it to us?”
Midii asked, though she knew it was futile.
“Uh, um…” they heard Amaya fumble with
something, most likely a towel, and then talk with a person who was obviously
right outside her door. After a minute or two of speedy conversation, which was
agonizing for two people hiding, Amaya returned.
“Yeah, I can have it there in a couple of
hours if you two can hold out for that long,” Amaya told him.
“How can you do that?” Midii asked, “Are
you delivering it personally or something? The mail system takes forever even
with express mail!”
“Er-I can’t
exactly tell you—”
“Thanks, Amaya,” Trowa said, “We have to
go now.” He hung up and grabbed Midii’s wrist. They fled from the soldiers and
decided to play catch me if you can.
Tuesday, December 24 AC
198-9:30 (Colony L-4Y45263)
“Relena, I really think we should have met
up with Catherine and Sally by now,” Sylvia told her.
Relena tried to remain calm, “They’re
here…somewhere.”
“But where?”
Sylvia practically screeched, “This place is huge! Remind me to get onto Quatre
about that when we see him next.” Relena randomly choose a corridor in her
head.
“They have to be down the left one,” she
said confidently.
“I’m sure,” muttered Sylvia. They walked
down the corridor, hopeless that they would actually bump into their rescuers.
“There you two are!” exclaimed a voice.
The girls turned to see Catherine and Sylvia. They ran up to them.
“How glad we are to see you two,” Sylvia
said cheerfully.
“That makes four of us,” Sally said, “Do
you two feel okay?”
“Perfectly fine,” Relena affirmed.
“
Sally smirked, “Wufei hates it when I give
him a check up. I always find something wrong with him.”
“How often do you give him a check up?”
inquired Sylvia as Relena was checked over.
“Only once or twice a week,” she said with
mock innocence. The girls laughed.
Tuesday, December 24 AC
198-10:00 (Colony L-4Y45263)
“There,” Jet wiped her brow, “All his hard
records are gone forever…gone with the wind.” Her joke made her chuckle some.
Heero just looked at her curiously.
“Never mind, Heero,” she told him.
“I’ll go take care of Nabil now,” he
informed, “Go join the girls.”
“Once we finally found out everything,
this was a pretty easy of getting rid of him,” Jet said for an on-the-bright-side
comment.
“Yes, I know,” Heero said, “But I think
Quatre’s cousin just wants to end his life, so he’s not putting up too much of
a fight. Plus Quatre did put most of this together and he surely knows his
cousin.”
“True.”
“I’ll be on my way then.”
“I mine,” Jet said. She said good-bye and
promised to make him chicken for dinner then left to join the girls.
Tuesday, December 24 AC
198-10:30 (Colony L-1F65839)
Noin could tell that Zechs was staring at
her even though he was intent on staring at the viruses. She wished he would
tell her how he felt about her being pregnant, but he would not. She figured he
would not say anything until after they got home.
“At least that’s in the near future,” she
said to herself.
“What?”
She smiled, “Nothing, just talking to
myself.”
“Oh.”
“Do you think it’s wise to jettison this
stuff out into space?”
“I don’t see why not. We’ll make sure it’s
totally out of Earth’s orbit and Mars’ too.”
“Why don’t we help dispose of them?”
suggested someone.
“Who’s there?” demanded Zechs, gun out,
making sure he was guarding Noin even more so than he usually would have done.
“Relax,” insisted the person, two others
were with her, “We were sent by Une. We’re technically not allowed to call
ourselves Preventers since they don’t exist anymore.”
“But who cares,” the man to her right
said, “That’s what we are.”
“Actually, we’re not preventing anything
except infection,” the man to her left pointed out, “We’re more like Mothers,
cleaning out the children’s trash.”
Zechs kept his gun on them, “Show me
proof.”
“Would you two be quiet?” requested the
woman, “Of course we have proof.” She handed Zechs a letter. He read it and
made certain it was not fake. “I could even contact
Miss Vandivier if you need more proof.” Noin read it too.
“It’s all the proof we need,” smiled Noin,
“You can help us.” The woman smiled, and they worked together.
Tuesday, December 24 AC
198-10:40 (Colony L-4Y45263)
Quatre sipped his tea and looked at his
cousin.
Nabil smiled, “You realize that our parents
used to do this.”
“I’m sure they did,” there was no smile on
Quatre’s face.
“That ended my mother’s life,” Nabil
reminded.
“It did not,” Quatre said for the
umpteenth time, “Can we please not talk about your mother? We’ve just spent the
last few hours talking about her.”
“Would you rather talk about your father?”
Nabil asked, hurt.
“No”
“Then what do you want to talk about?”
“Almost anything else,” Quatre said,
exasperated, “I’m beginning to think that your only motivation in life is to
avenge your mother.”
“It is,” Nabil told him, “As you have
found out, I have done that…I don’t have to live anymore.”
Quatre became alarmed, “What?”
“Your friend is free to kill me. I don’t
care anymore. I never had children, so I left everything to you as Mother
requested.”
“Nabil! You-you
can’t….”
“You’d rather me go to trial and drag the
family through the media coverage? No, even if your friend doesn’t kill me,
I’ve already taken enough sedative in my tea to kill me. Don’t worry, little
cousin, you’re perfectly safe. I didn’t put any in yours.”
Tuesday, December 24 AC
198-10:40 (Colony L-3C6445)
“You’ll never get the job done that way,”
a man informed Duo and Wufei. The duo turned weapons out of course.
“Don’t shoot,” he instructed nonchalantly,
“I’m from Une.” He showed them proof. They took it and read it.
“Okay,” Wufei reluctantly accepted him,
“What do you suggest we do?”
“Will you let my men do help?” he asked.
They nodded. He gave the signal, and a group of ten to fifteen men went through
a moved some of the charges.
“There,” the man said, “now it’s ready.”
“You think we need help?” Wufei asked
angrily.
“Yeah,” agreed Duo, “We’ve taken care of
two other plants before this one!”
“Everyone needs help,” the man reminded,
“And in this new era, you’re not Gundam pilots. We’re all Preventers here; no
one’s better than another.”
The boys were forced to agree.
Tuesday, December 24 AC 198-10:50
(Colony L-5B4505)
“What exactly did you need from Amaya’s
ring?” asked Midii.
“That crystal…they’ll recognize it and
know we have the upper hand,” Trowa informed her. Soldiers surrounded them,
guns aimed at them.
“Is this the end, Nanashi?” Midii
inquired. Suddenly a few soldiers went down. Gunfire came from outside the
ring. Men and women in Preventer jackets came up, surrounding the soldiers.
They surrendered. One man came through, holding up the crystal.
“I believe you specially ordered a
crystal,” he said with a grin.
“What happened?” Trowa asked, relieved.
“Une decided that if the Preventers
couldn’t be around with government funding, we should still fight back,” he
grinned.
“I’m glad for that,” Midii smiled.
“So how are things going with the others?”
Trowa said.
“Don’t know,” the man declared, “Why don’t
you call?”
Trowa punched in a code, “Amaya? Are you
there?”
“Yeah, I’m here,” she said, sounding more
awake than she had for the whole day.
“That’s good,” Midii said, “What’s going
on with everyone?”
“Une finally got the Preventers up to
space and coordinated everywhere. Duo and Wufei have finished with their help,
and they’re on their way to you, but it sounds like you don’t need it. Some
specialists from the chemical department or something met up with Zechs and
Noin, and now the maladies are being properly disposed of. Catherine and Sally
said that they finally found Relena and Sylvia, and they’re perfectly healthy.
Jet should be there by now, and Relena will make her speech any minute now.
Heero is meeting up with Quatre any moment now to assassinate Nabil.
“Did you guys get that crystal like you
wanted?”
“Yeah, we did,” Trowa told her.
“That’s good,” she said then a plop, “Aw,
dang it!”
“What? What is it?” Midii asked, concerned
somewhat.
“I dropped the link in my syrup. I’m
disconnecting so I can clean it….”
Tuesday, December 24 AC
198-11:00 (Colony L-4Y45263)
Quatre stared at his cousin. He knew that
he would probably die before Heero got there. Nevertheless, Heero walked in the
room at that moment.
Nabil smiled, “I see that my time as
ended. Soon I’ll be with Allah.”
“You think you’ll make it to him?” asked
in his head.
Heero raised his gun, “If you say so.”
“I heard that you vowed not to kill anyone
ever again,” Nabil said.
“If you’re trying to plead for you life,”
Heero started.
“Not at all, my young guest,” he answered,
“But I already took the liberty of letting you keep your promise.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s taken a massive amount of
sedatives,” Quatre sighed. Heero looked between the two Winners. Nabil closed
his eyes, never opening them again. After half an hour, one of them spoke.
“So, I guess he’s gone.”
“Yeah….”
“It’s for the best.”
“I know.”
“You want to go back to the others now?”
He nodded in agreement.
Tuesday, December 24 AC
198-12:00 (Colony L-4Y45263)
Jet held the camera up as Sally monitored
the computer. Relena composed herself.
“People of the Earth Sphere Unified
Nation. I would like you all to know that I am alive and well. No harm has come
to me or any of my comrades. The threats of JL Khushrenada, Li Yen, and Nabil
Winner have been taken care of. They are, unfortunately, dead. All of the
details to their deaths will be released later, probably after the New Year
begins.
“I am sorry for any confusion that might
have occurred on our absences, but we will try to rectify any disputes in the coming
months. For General and Mrs. Vandivier, your daughter is perfectly fine, aside
from getting up very early this morning,” Relena’s smiled widened, “To the
relatives and close friends of the Winner family, Quatre will be on his way
home very soon. To Sylvia Noventa’s loved ones, she
is looking forward to coming home tomorrow. To my brother and sister-in-law,
thank you for your help. And to my own mother, whom I seemed to have neglected
these past few years, I love you, and I will gladly spend all of my holidays
and birthdays with you as long as you want me to.
“Merry Christmas and
Happy Holidays to everyone.”
Tuesday, December 24 AC
198-14:30 (Moon)
Quatre hugged Amaya as everyone came back
for a small reunion.
“I took the override off a couple hours
ago,” Amaya told them.
“That’s good,” Duo said, “Now I can get
back to watching television, after I get Hilde and pay the sisters.”
“Why does everything either end or begin
around Christmas?” Amaya asked them.
“Yes,” agreed Midii, “Christmas does seem
to have many events for anniversaries.”
“Like the Eve Wars,” Trowa said.
“And the Mariemaia incident,” Une told
them.
“Well, I guess everyone likes presents,”
Zechs said, “And some are different than others.” They all had a tearful
goodbye before heading back to their not so quiet lives.
Wednesday, December 25 AC 198
(Maxwell tentative residence)
“Duo!” screamed Hilde as he walked through
the door. She practically tackled him as she hugged him while he walked through
the door.
“Hilde, babe!” he greeted, grinning.
“You’re back!” she said, starting to cry.
“Yeah, I am,” he said in a softer tone. He
kissed her then went to see Caitlyn.
“Where’s that good for nothing brother of
yours?”
Hilde looked down, “The Preventers already
took him away…. His court date is on January first.”
“Well,” Duo said, picking up and hugging
his daughter, “He’s only a minor….” Under the makeshift Christmas tree was a
little Kiara doll with a gold bow for their daughter.
Wednesday, December 25 AC 198
(Winner residence)
“Iria, Maria, Rashid, all of you, I’m
perfectly fine,” Quatre insisted. He could not help but laugh.
“Are you sure, baby brother?” asked Iria,
“Let me just look over you.”
“Sally already did that.”
“You have a lot of birthdays to make up
for,” Maria Eva said with a grin.
“I know, and I promise I will do just
that.”
“We were very worried about you, Master
Quatre,” Rashid said, relief in his eyes, “You should have contacted us.”
“I’m sorry; I tried to, but it was very
difficult, and we were busy,” Quatre excused himself,
“I have to go talk to Amaya about this ring I gave her.”
Iria’s eyes lit
up, “Little brother did you really?”
Quatre looked lost, “Did I what?”
“Master Quatre, we are all very proud of
you,” Rashid beamed.
“For what?”
“What do you mean?” Maria Eva said, “You
gave Amaya a ring. You proposed! Quatre?” Quatre had
fainted, all of it too much to handle. “Is he faking this?”
Wednesday,
December 25 AC 198 (The Circus!)
“It’s great to be back,” Midii exclaimed
as they walked through the grounds.
“Yes,” Trowa concurred, “I missed the
animals.”
“They missed you,” Catherine said with a
smile.
“At least we’re home in time for
Christmas,” Midii pointed out.
“And we’re together,” Catherine said,
“This is turning into one of those sappy Christmas movies.”
“Well, I don’t plan on going on anymore
long missions for awhile,” Trowa announced.
“Good,” both girls said at once.
“Under one
condition,” Trowa told them. They inquired what it was. “You two never again
become Gundam pilots.” It was their cheapest Christmas gift hitherto.
Wednesday, December 25 AC 198
(the place where the Yuys currently reside)
“Heero, I’m not going on anymore of those
things,” Jet told him, “Your fellow pilots are weird.”
“And you barely know them.”
“Let’s just have a quiet Christmas. Hollard’s parents were nice enough not to press me with
kidnapping when I returned her.”
“Are we capable of that?”
“We surely are”
Heero laughed.
Wednesday, December 25 AC 198
(Chang hotel room)
“How is Ling Ling liking Christmas?” Sally asked as she watched
the little girl tear threw wrapping paper for a Kiara doll.
“She’s catching on pretty quickly,” Wufei
said, rubbing his eye.
“What’s wrong? Sleepy?”
“No, my contacts are bothering me,” he
answered, “I need more….”
“I thought we already had this
conversation.”
“Papa!” exclaimed Ling, “Look what I got!”
She showed him her Kiara doll.
“That’s wonderful, dear,” he said, “Now
put with the others.”
“The others?”
“Maxwell talked everyone else on the
planet into sending us one of those damned dolls,” he explained. Sally
understood as Ling opened the door and ten dolls at least were lined up in a
row.
Wednesday, December 25 AC 198
(Darlian residence)
“Sylvia, are you sure you’re okay?” Mrs.
Darlian asked once more. Sylvia nodded.
“I’m fine. Thank you for having me over.”
“It’s
no trouble at all,” Relena said, “Noin and Zechs already rushed over to Mars.
We had an early Christmas last night and this morning, so I thought I’d spend
the rest of the day with you two.”
“That was very nice of you,” Sylvia
thanked.
“I’m glad to see you again, Relena,” Mrs.
Darlian once again repeated, hugging Relena tightly.
“I’m not letting you out of my sight,
Mother,” Relena told her, “Once I did that, the whole world went crazy, it
seems.”
“I’m sure that’s not true,” Mrs. Darlian
said.
“Oh, it is,” Relena assured, “If you look
back, everything was fine until I stopped talking to you. You’re the key to
peace, not me.”
“Relena!” chuckled
Mrs. Darlian. Sylvia just smiled. Soon afterward, they opened each other’s presents.
“Did you remember to send Wufei that
doll?” asked Relena.
“Of course I did,” Sylvia said.
“What doll?” inquired Mrs. Darlian, “Who’s
Wufei?”
“He’s a friend,” Relena answered, “As for
the doll….” They fell into giggles at that point.
Thursday, December 26 AC 198
Dorothy clutched her beloved Kiara once
more, the real one. It was her day late Christmas present. It was her last link
to her past, to the ones she loved.
Dear cousin Dorothy,
Here is your doll. It’s the real one. I
hope she brings you more joy than she ever brought me. She’s the reason for
this whole mess, you know. As soon as I stole her, Father came up with the
whole crazy scheme, and now that strange man is helping him. I hope by now you
know what is going on and resolve it. Maybe you already have.
I love you. Please, forgive me…for Kiara’s sake. I’d hate for you to look at her with disdain
at my memory.
Affectionately,
Melita Khushrenada
How did it end? Let me
know. There’s an epilogue…soon