Tears of Despair

Chapter 3: Family Issues

By: Liewe

Standard disclaimers apply, Gundam Wing characters do not belong to me, Damien, Christof and Andre Une do belong to me, please don’t use them without my permission.

 

“What do you mean that there’s a disturbance in Interpol?”

 

“Just what I said, there seems to be a leak, and we can’t find it, we need you to go undercover Wufei.  This is your mission, you have no choice but to accept it,” Lady Une said with a sigh.  Chang Wufei could be so infuriating at times, sure he was a complex individual, but he could be so bull headed at times.  Hopefully this wasn’t one of them.

 

“And you want me to go and take care of it?”

 

“Yes, I want you to go with Barton to find the leak and destroy it, it would be more profitable though you managed to bring the leak in alive.  But with the two of you assigned to this mission we aren’t pinning our hopes on such an outcome, we will accept what we can,” Lady Une said softly leaning back in her chair, her fingers steepled before her. 

 

“Then why are we being chosen for this mission, if you feel that the combination of our teamwork will destroy the leak,” Wufei asked, his voice suspicious.

 

“It’s the nature of the leak, Wufei, the nature.  We believe it to be in the entire network, but we can’t prove it, and you and Barton have been out of the public eye for a long time.  People are beginning to forget what you look like.  Winner is too recognizable, so is Duo, what with all that hair, and I’m afraid Heero has already been assigned a mission to complete.  That leaves me with you and Barton; I wouldn’t trust anyone but a Gundam pilot with this mission. And before you ask Agent Po is indisposed at the moment, she won’t be able to help you.”

 

“We shall try our best to ferret out the leak,” Wufei said as he saluted Lady Une before leaving the room.

 

“I’m counting on that, you wouldn’t believe how much I’m counting on that,” Lady Une said, rising from her overstuffed leather chair to stand at her window, a pale hand resting against the cool glass as thoughts of war raced through her mind. 

 

Who am I, why do I work for LeFave when it is plain that I despise him, is it my need to fit in, to be normal.  Or do I just need someone to go to when the times get rough, someone to depend on.  Though I’m sure if I had properly looked I could have found someone better than LeFave, he is so greedy and demanding, he would kill me without a second thought.  Or would he? Would he drag it out, torture and destroy me slowly instead of a quick death, would he make me suffer?

 

Midii walked through the dark hallways again, her long blonde hair pulled tightly to the nape of her neck.  Her pale blue business suit, hid her figure well, making her seem demure and dowdy, two things she had never been.  When those businessmen ran their hands over her curves she always bit the urge to make them feel the pain of her humiliation. 

 

Is this the right thing I’m doing? It seems to come so naturally to me, I can’t remember ever learning this but they do not know I am here.  They do not know that I pilfer information from them at the speed of light, that I feed their secrets to those who would wish them harm.  Others have failed, but I don’t know how.  What am I? Who am I?

 

Her fingers scanned the manager’s planner, dates and names leaping out at her and filing away as she continued.  Her figure was silhouetted against the gray wall of the cramped office, the moonlight shining in through the large window located behind the desk.  The silence of the building was almost deafening but she welcomed it, the silence was part of her.

 

Always the same, isn’t it?  These offices are so tiny, would’ve thought that at least management would have spacious offices.  This is Interpol!  The moon is so bright, maybe things will work out for me after all, I’m not like the others, never have been, never will be.  The silence is so comforting, at least to me.  I can’t understand why other’s shy from it, why they insist on breaking the golden rule.  I don’t think I want to know.

 

“Christof, will you stop blaming yourself, your worse than Trowa at times,” Damien said softly from his perch on the balcony, his blonde hair, brushing his shoulders with each gust of wind.

 

“I can’t help it, Mr. Hippie,” Christof said, glaring at his brother.  Why the older man had decided to grow his hair was beyond him, but then Damien had changed a lot over the last three years.  He wasn’t the same person who had run off to save their sister, or the same man who had threatened severe bodily harm to the man who had loved their sister.

 

“I’m just expressing myself, I’m not some Hippie as you would like to call it.  I wanted a change of appearance that’s all, brother.  Maybe you should consider one, maybe it would lift this cloud of gloom from above your head, don’t you think?”

 

“You’re a nut, you know that don’t you?”

 

“I’m just trying to move on with my life, Midii wouldn’t want us to become grumpy old men because she died.  She knew there would be some consequence for her actions she just didn’t know what it would be.  Did you think that someone wouldn’t find her and stab her in the back, in their eyes she betrayed them, and the only way to atone for that was death.  They tried and sentenced her, and I wish I could have protected her, I do wish she could still be here with us.  But it’s useless wishing for something you can’t have.”

 

Christof was silent, his brother’s speech had hit home, and he was thinking over his actions.  For the last three years, he had drunk himself into a stupor every night, trying to drown the memories of her scared face as they carried her to the cliff, their intent made clear by their actions.  He tried to drown the nightmares of her scream, but he couldn’t, for the last three years he hadn’t gotten a good nights sleep.

 

“Come on, Une and Dad are expecting us,” Damien said moving to the floor and grabbing his cane as he faced the pensive Christof.  Finally after letting loose a sigh, he grabbed the younger man’s arm and dragged him back into the luxurious estate.

 

“To face war, is it the curse of humanity.  To forever be unhappy, is that the curse of the Une family name?  For as long as I can remember, we have been struck down with one tragedy after another.  First the death of our mother, and then the disappearance of Andre, the death of his wife, and his youngest son.  My Treize, killed in battle, our love never to be requited. And now his only daughter, murdered.  Should I be seeing a trend here? Should I watch my back? Am I next?”

 

“Mama?” came the soft voice of Mariemaia Khushrenada as she emerged from the shadows, her brilliant red hair, flowing freely around her shoulders.

 

“Yes Mariemaia?”

 

“Good things come with the bad, and tragedy only makes us stronger,” Mariemaia whispered, as she eyed her mother. 

 

“You have your father’s wisdom,” Lady Une said with a catch in her voice as she pulled her ‘daughter’ into her arms.  “I feel sorry for Andre, Midii meant so much to him, she was exactly like her mother, in his eyes at least.  I don’t envy him his pain, just thinking about loosing you causes my heart to stop.”

 

“Mama, I’ll never leave you, you’ve saved my life again and again.  My father loved you, and I love you.  I would never leave you, not yet.”

 

“So wise for a teenager, but then you never had a childhood did you?”

 

“That’s not true, you gave me all the things Dekim denied me.  I’m enjoying life, but I can say that I value every moment, I’ve faced death in the eye and death looked the other way giving me time to right the wrongs of my family.  I will never turn a blind eye to that gift, I treasure it,” Mariemaia sighed as she pulled out of her mothers embrace.  “I came to tell you that dinner is ready, and they’re waiting for us to make our appearance.”

 

“I almost forgot,” Lady Une chuckled through her tears.  “Somehow I don’t think Christof and Damien will let me forget that.”

 

“No I don’t think so.  Have you seen Damien’s hair? It reaches his shoulders now! And Christof, well he’s looking a little better, he doesn’t have the cane anymore, but his eyes are haunted.  I think he still blames himself.”

 

“He hasn’t given up hope that she lives, we all know that, but at least his physical injuries are healing, his emotional ones should soon follow.”

 

“I hope he heals soon, it isn’t good for the family, or his health,” Mariemaia, mused as she continued down the hall, arm in arm with her mother.

 

Midii turned the dials, the transmission coming through clearer with each twist, PbCO₃… Components of a new weapon? Midii thought as she continued to clear the noise from the tape.  HCl… another one, HNO₃ … and another? What is this for? KI…

 

“PbCO₃, HCl, HNO₃ and KI, what is all this for? What are these components coming together to form?”

 

“I don’t know Ariane dear.  Why don’t you snoop some more? Maybe you’ll find something interesting…” came the voice of LeFave as he appeared from the shadows. 

 

“Sneaking up on people now?”

 

“I have always snuck up on people, it is my living.”

 

“Leave me to my work,” Ariane, growled as she continued to try and cleanse the tape of the extra static.

 

“Getting antsy now are we?  Are you so anxious to get out of my presence? Am I that disgusting?”

 

“LeFave, you are a leech, a disgusting specimen of the human species and the only reason I work with you is that you knew me before the accident.  I know Ariane isn’t my real name, and I know you know who I truly am.  The best way to find out what I want to know if to work with you.  I could work against you but that would be more frustrating in the end.”

 

“So smart,” LeFave chuckled as she watched her, his eyes hungrily following every movement she made.  She enthralled him, and she always would.  This was a means of revenge but who said he couldn’t enjoy it in the meantime.

 

Midii turned, about to spit back a scathing reply as she stopped.  Something was wrong, someone was there, and it wasn’t good.  “Come out with your hands up and I won’t hurt you!”

 

“I don’t think so woman,” Wufei growled from his position, his gun trained on Ariane’s heart, the red targeting laser a bright spot in the dark office.

 

-To Be Continued…