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Tears of Despair

Chapter 12: Devious Plans and Dark Promises

By: Liewe

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Standard disclaimers apply… The wonderfully colorful personalities of the Gundam Wing characters do not belong to me, I have only borrowed them for the sake of this NON-PROFIT fiction. On the other hand though, the deliciously and elegantly evil character of LeFave is mine, and so are the scrumptious characters of Damien and Christof Une, so hands off the bish’s.

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LeFave sat quietly, contemplating his next move as images of Ariane flashed through his mind. She was Midii and yet she was not for he had controlled Ariane, and Midii had always darted out of reach. He smirked as he replayed the security camera footage of his encounter with one Dr. Iria Winner. She was his ultimate goal, and always had been.

He smirked as he thought back over the years and savored the pleasurable memories of how he had played with the wayward Winner children. The delectable Midii Une had only a delightful surprise in the whole mess. He would have never dipped his hand so deeply into the outcome of her life she not presented herself as the perfect tool for his quest. A sinister chuckle escaped his lips as he thought of Scherazade Winner and her protection of the family, which disowned her. Her staunch refusal to allow him to alleviate her pain, and suffering in return for family secrets, and her abject determination to stick by that paupers side because she loved him!

Dedication ran deep, he mused. Iria was dedicated to protecting the remaining members of her family from certain dark truths. Midii, or Ariane, was dedicated to the man she loved, a dedication that ran so deep she had shut herself from the world because he rejected her. The Winner women were a joy to play with, at least in his eyes.

The incessant beeping of the com unit pulled him back to the present as he impatiently waited for the news of their arrival.

“The captain has asked me to inform you that we are beginning our descent now sir,” the raw, nervous voice of a new young recruit crackled over the line.

“How far are we from the heart of the city?” LeFave queried nonchalantly, as he brushed back a stray strand of onyx hair.

“Three hours, sir.”

“Three hours? I specifically requested to be near to the center of town.”

“Sir, it is the only shuttle port open for both commercial and private use, which is not controlled by the Preventers.”

“Very well, then,” LeFave bit out turning away from the screen, “you are dismissed.” LeFave whispered, his voice raising goose bumps on the back of the young recruits neck.

A shot was heard over the crackle of the com before the voice of a woman interrupted. “He has been dismissed sir,” she whispered, her pale golden hair framing her elfin face.

“Thank you, Catalonia,” LeFave said in response before turning the communication system off.

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Catherine glared at the poised blonde woman standing in the single shaft of sunlight from her tied position on the floor or the Earth-bound shuttle.

“You lied,” Catherine bit out, a single tear coursing from a clouded violet eye.

“It was necessary,” Kalie sighed, bending down to check the fallen recruits pulse. Her pale eyes ignoring the scorch mark and hole in the titanium wall to her right.

“Everything you said to me, to Quatre, it was all a lie. You don’t care at all about what Dorothy felt, or what she would have wanted. I met her once, and she was devoted to Quatre’s happiness. I didn’t recognize her as the woman I had met during the war. She wasn’t bloodthirsty or war crazy,” Catherine whispered, her voice hitching as she spoke.

“Not entirely, behind my words there was some truth…” Kalie Catalonia said, running a jeweled hand through her pale locks. “I am doing this for my sister,” she whispered to the silence. “You and I share similar names, the same eyes and the same love. He should be with a woman of Catalonia descent. Dorothy and I were twins, if he were with me, he would be with her in a way,” the disturbed young woman’s voice decreasing in volume with each word as she moved about the room.

“You’re sick,” Catherine spat, in sudden realization of the other woman’s plan. “He’ll know.”

“Eventually, but how long would it take him to realize the switch? Hours, days, months, maybe even years? And when he does will he want to disavow the switch. Apparently I’m almost identical to my sister.”

“He’ll know,” Catherine persisted; shaking her head against the doubts Kalie was placing in her mind.

“Eventually, but then again, will he even believe it? LeFave has promised to aide me and my plan,” Kalie said a chuckle escaping her red painted lips.

Her heart clenched in regret for a brief moment before the woman who had spoken to LeFave once more took control.

“My plan will not fail me,” Kalie said through clenched teeth. Her head bent as she tightened the knots holding Catherine hostage.

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Christof turned, his blue gray eyes locking with soft and sorrowful sapphire; in his hands he held his father’s photo album, and the name of his mother. Her real name. The photo album contained not only pictures but also the letters, which had passed between his parents while they were courting.

“You knew?” he asked through clenched teeth, his soft voice accusing.

“Yes…” a woman’s voice answered meekly.

“And you did nothing?” Christof asked, his voice rising in volume as he struggled to contain his anger.

“I couldn’t,” the woman replied softly, shrugging her shoulders in a habitual gesture.

“Or wouldn’t?”

“You wouldn’t understand,” Iria said softly, shaking her head, her golden hair brushing against her pale cheeks.

“Then explain it to me,” Christof hissed.

“Scherazade and I were never close, never! I wrote your father when her letters stopped because she was my sister, and I cared. I broke every rule father set to find out what happened to her, I risked me neck…” Iria paused, her breath hitching as sobs broke from her throat.

“Risked your neck? How dammit? How the hell did you risk your neck? We never spoke to you, you say you cared, but you didn’t! You didn’t care!” Christof whispered, moving closer to the still and shaking form of Iria. “You didn’t even care to help the life of an innocent, dammit! You knew she was having trouble, you knew, and you didn’t care! She kept copy’s of her letters, she clearly stated that something was wrong, she was asking for help!”

“Disobeying father’s wishes would have put me on the street if he had ever found out,” Iria said softly, stepping back from Christof’s advancing form. “But I tried, I did, she was family!”

“Does Quatre know,” Christof asked, snarling softly as he changed the thread of conversation.

“No he doesn’t, he has so many sisters. Did you know that the first time I met him was on a resource satellite? He hasn’t even met some of his sisters,” Iria said, pacing back and forth about the room, the clicking of her heels resounding off the cold marble walls.

“He knows of Scherazade, my mother?”

“No, he doesn’t, well not entirely. Her name was never spoken in his presence, and I doubt father even knew that she was married to Andre, or that she had given birth to you, Damien and Midii. He didn’t want to know about her, and he didn’t want Quatre to know of her. He considered her bad luck and he didn’t want his precious heir corrupted.” Iria whispered, tears falling from her dark lashes.

“Was he told anything then?” Christof asked stepping back to lean against the cold marble wall.

“He was told that she died upon reaching her 16^th year… Father never intended to tell him the truth, and in his eyes, Scherazade was dead. She died when she left home, when he disowned her.”

“Hello Iria,” Damien’s voice interrupted, as he limped into the room. “Am I interrupting something?”

“Damien, say hello to our Aunt,” Christof spat, shoving past Damien’s tall form and pushing the album into his brother’s limp hands.

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“Welcome back to the land of the living Chang,” Sally said softly as she watched Wufei struggle to sit upright, his dark eyes ringed with purple from the hit Trowa had delivered to the finely boned nose.

“What happened?” was the groggy reply.

“You were punched in the nose by Trowa, he didn’t appreciate the way Midii was hanging all over you,” Sally said with a barely suppressed chuckle. A slight smile graced her rose colored lips as she peeked at the closed door.

“She is Midii then? And why am I in my bathroom, woman?”

“First question, yes she is, she remembers bits and pieces. The second question I refuse to answer, if you expect an answer I would like some respect. Yes I am a woman but it is only my gender, and nothing else,” Sally spat.

“You never minded before,” Wufei replied, tenderly touching the abused skin of his nose with calloused fingers, as he turned a quizzical gaze at Sally’s still form.

“I just never said anything before…”

“Then you were weak,” Wufei responded, his plain delivery giving credence to his fearless bravado.

“Don’t you dare start that crap with me! Do you want to know who made me weak? Well do you?” Sally asked turning to face Wufei with madness in her eyes.

“You made yourself weak.”

“No, Wufei you did. I cared so much for your approval; I began to doubt myself, and my decisions. When I needed a shoulder to lean on the most you weren’t there. And even if you had been, would it have been offered? No, because showing emotions are a weakness and all woman are weak aren’t they?” Sally questioned, her hands taking up residence in her dark locks.

“What are you saying?” Wufei asked hesitantly, his dark eyes warily keeping track of Sally’s frenzied pacing.

“I left because of you, and myself. You’re right, I was too weak to handle being around you when I knew you would never look at me the way I looked at you. I loved you then, and I still love you now, which only proves what a hopeless cause I am,” she whispered her tone depreciating.

“Sally, I never knew,” Wufei answered stunned, his normally bronze skin pale.

“No you didn’t, which made it hurt all the more. You couldn’t have been bothered to notice,” Sally whispered through the fall of tears.

“I’m….” Wufei paused, trying to force the word from his throat, a word he could barely remember speaking before. “I’m… sorry.”

“It’s too late for that,” Sally replied, stopping in her endless pacing to look directly at Wufei’s startled face. She was shocked to see the emotions play across his normally harsh yet handsome features.

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Trowa sat, a hand idly tangling in Midii’s hair as he watched her sleep. No longer did she toss and turn. She was peaceful, her rosy lips parted as she breathed, her eyelids fluttering as if she were dreaming.

He couldn’t resist the urge, which had been festering since the day before, since their meeting at Preventer HQ. She was in Paris, she was alive! She was alive! He could scarcely believe it though for years he had continued to advocate that she was indeed alive, and hadn’t died on their wedding day.

He leaned forward, his eyes fluttering closed as he placed the slightest of butterfly kisses on her parted lips. The sensation raced straight to his over taxed mind and he managed to justify prolonging the experience. He stumbled back in shock, a hand held to his throbbing cheek.

“Don’t you dare do that again,” Midii’s voice whispered over the following silence in the room. Her aqua eyes dark with the promise of further pain if her words were ignored. “Things have changed from those days.”

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~ To Be Continued…