Disclaimer: You know the drill. I do NOT own Gundam Wing or it's characters. I DO own the OC's and the storyline.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Redemption Is A Word, And I Am A Fool
By: Firefrost
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Many things in life are hard. Some things strain the body, and others strain the mind. But, what of strain of the heart? Once, I sought to redeem myself, by saving my loved ones from the mistake I made... But, afterwards, that didn't solve anything. It was my fault in the first place, and the pain of that doesn't go away with time...
* * * * *
August 31, AC 214,
Earth, England, Southampton Spaceport:
The whizzing hum of the space shuttle wheels on the concrete runway jolted Margaret Winner out of her sleep. She looked around frantically, and the girl beside her laughed.
Seventeen-year-old Mindy-Paige Barton giggled, her brown hair slipping down to her mid-back, and her deep green eyes gleaming with delight. "What's the matter, Maggie? Afraid I'd left you behind?!"
Maggie looked at her friend strangely. "Well, I have to make sure you don't ditch me, don't I?"
Paige laughed outright now, and turned in her seat. "We'll be going soon."
"Mm," Maggie nodded, and looked ahead of her. They were in first class on a trip from the L4 space colony to Earth. It was the second time she'd traveled between the two in her life.
Maggie and Paige stood, and shuffled out of the shuttle, down the disembarking stairs, and right into the arms of Maggie's parents, and a few friends.
"I'm so glad you two made it safely!" Relena Peacecraft-Winner smiled, hugging her daughter tightly, then hugging Paige.
Maggie smiled, embarrassed slightly. "It was only a flight, Mom! It's not like we'd get shot out of the sky! No gravity in space, remember?"
Her mother shot her a dirty look, then smiled and shook her head. "You're hopeless, Maggie!"
Quatre Winner looked at his eldest daughter, and hugged her. "Good trip, Princess?"
"Yes, Dad!" was Maggie's reply, eyes shining. "Thanks for sending me!" Then, Maggie turned her attention to the children standing just behind her father, and she leaned forward to be at eye level with them. "And how have you two been?"
Five-year-olds James and Merishen Winner eyed her, and answered with one voice. "Fine!"
Merie burst out, excitedly. "Oh, Maggie, how was it?! Did you get to see you old friends?! What's it like on a colony?! Did you see the sights?! Did you like it?!"
Maggie laughed. "Let's see! Um, it was good. Yes, I saw my friends. It's like being on Earth, only you see the stars better. No, I didn't see anything I hadn't seen before. And, yes, I liked it very much!"
Now, Maggie took notice of the other people standing there. "Uncle Duo, Auntie Hilde!" she spotted two short figures behind her aunt and uncle. "Nicky, Theo!"
Nic (now ten) said hello, and his sister, Theo (freshly turned six) just waved shyly.
"Good you're back!" Duo grinned, making up for his children's unintentional lack of enthusiasm, and slapped Maggie on the back affectionately.
"Come on, Princess," Quatre said, putting an arm around Maggie's shoulders, and moving her towards the white limousine waiting a few yards away. "Let's get you home."
Home. Maggie thought the word strange. For the passed three weeks (on her summer vacation) she had been on L4 with her best friend, Paige. L4 had been her home until AC 211, when her parents decided it was time to move.
By AC 212, Maggie was one year into a new life on Earth in Southampton, England. Now, the Winners lived only a few blocks away from Hilde and Duo. The Maxwells had moved to Southampton from L2 after setting up a location for their machine corporation, Maxwell Machines, in AC 210.
Maggie closed her eyes as she entered the limo, and the rest of her family followed afterward. Her parents sat opposite her, with Merie. As for Paige and Jamie, they sat on either side of Maggie. Duo and his family followed in their new black minivan.
"The other one was getting old," Duo had smiled when Maggie had inquired about it.
Merie and Jamie had never known L4, Maggie thought. They were only 2 when the Winners had moved.
Paige had come to live with Maggie and her family a year ago, when her father, Trowa, had died of SCLC (Small Cell Lung Cancer). That had been a difficult time... Not only was Paige grieving, but Maggie and her parents were, too, because Quatre had always been very close to Trowa.
'Oh well...,' Maggie sighed to herself. 'Uncle Trowa is happy. He knows we're taking good care of Paige...'
"Hey, Dad?" Maggie asked. "Why didn't Nana come?"
Quatre laughed, "She's got a cold. You know her: won't go anywhere, even if it's just a slight sniffle!"
Maggie laughed, too. That summed up the primness of Dorothy to a T!
The rest of the ride was silent. Maggie's parents simply watched their children quietly. Merie and James fell asleep to the rhythm of the car. Paige (as usual) had her nose in a book: The Princess Bride.
Maggie, herself, wasn't in any particular mood for speech, anyway. School would start on Monday, and it was Saturday. This time of year was never a happy time for children, especially teenagers!
Of course, Maggie wasn't exactly a teenager. She was only thirteen: a preteen, and teeny-bopper — but, close enough! It was Paige that reveled in her teens, and Maggie started to envy it... just a little. After all, Paige was her friend.
Once, Paige had pinpointed the cause of this envy. It was more along the lines of fear. Paige was seventeen, and would soon be leaving the Winner's household to attend university. She had already set her sights on Pembrook — all the way in Bristol — for her studies. She wanted to be an archivist. It would only be one more year before she left...
The Winner home loomed up through a hedge-covered stone wall. A fountain was present in the driving loop in front. The front gardens teamed with blossoms assorted colours, and the pretty carpentry and masonry work on the great house was breathtaking — Maggie's mother had GREAT taste in fashion and history! A trait that Maggie was eager to try to imitate, more so for the fashion!
As Maggie and her family exited the limousine, she looked at the house. All it did was remind her that everyone else seemed to have a niche. She was the exception. Her mother was a pacifist politician. Her father, a businessman — also pacifist. Jamie and Merie had taken on the role of troublemakers (that once had been her title). Paige was designed around books! Even Maggie's aunts and uncles had found their calling in life!
She DID have an interest in wordplay, and reading (thanks to Paige's sessions), but that wasn't enough for a career, was it? JUST interest?
The Maxwells honked their horn from the entrance gate: a quick farewell, as they made their way back to their own home.
Relena called to Maggie from the doorway after the rest of the family had gone inside. "Sweetheart, are you coming in?"
"In a minute!" Maggie replied, staring at her surroundings.
What was her purpose?
* * * * *
Sunday morning. The whole of it was spent trying on new clothes Relena had bought for the new year. Maggie became new best friends with the mirror, and it did not really displease her! She was, after all, a pretty girl. Her fair platinum locks tumbled to just beyond her shoulders, as it always had, for she refused to let anyone extend or cut it!
Her gentle blue eyes were ovals, set into a round, fair face. She was developing; no longer the gangly little girl. She was becoming a shapely woman, and this made her parents slightly uneasy, though they did their best to hide it. Especially after a new, monthly friend had begun dropping in on Maggie two months ago.
Relena finished tying a decorative white scarf around Maggie's neck. Now, Relena's daughter stood in black leather platform knee-boots, a deep blue fitted skirt, and a red blouse with fanned out arms.
This Maggie made Relena squirm in her seat. A sexy girl stood before her — one that was wild, and already wielded a AA bust, and shaping hip curves! She had considered giving Maggie a seven o'clock curfew, but decided not for fear of starting the road to rebellion. Maggie was a smart girl. She new how to handle herself, and the boys... As long as she knew where Maggie was, and would be home by nine, Relena would be content.
"Mum!" Maggie protested. "I don't need new clothes! I have a school uniform!"
Relena crinkled her nose. "You still have afternoons. You will NOT going running around in your uniform all day!"
Maggie rolled her eyes. True, she had afternoons, but she already had a whole mountain of perfectly FINE clothes! Her mother had this strange obsession with renewing everyone's wardrobe every two years. It had become a tradition with the Winners.
That Sunday: September 1, AC 214, came and went all too quickly with preparations for school. Pretty soon, Maggie and her siblings found themselves waking to the dawn of Monday September 2.
Maggie bounded down to breakfast at 7:39 a.m., only to find the rest of her family already eating. She took her seat beside Jamie.
Hannah, the chef, placed a heaping plate of food in front of her, and she ravenously began to stuff herself — in the most polite manner possible.
Quatre eyed his daughter for a long while from over the rim of his newspaper. Her hair was neatly combed, and part of it was pulled into a rhinestone hair clip at the back. He smiled, "I'm glad they changed your uniform this year. I didn't much care for last year's."
Maggie stopped and looked down at her clothes. A white knee skirt that covered her thighs. A tucked-in navy blue T-shirt with her school emblem embroidered on the pocket: a golden lion. A white bow under her collar, and her black slip shoes with gold buckles.
"Yeah," she replied, swallowing her mouthful, "I like it better, too."
"Daddy," Maggie asked, looking around, "where's Paige?"
Relena smiled, and looked up from her papers. "She's gone already, Maggie. Noadswood Highschool starts a half hour before your school. At eight."
Then, Hannah interrupted. "Speakin' o' which, I'm thinkin' you an' your brother an' sister aught be off soon, Margie!"
Maggie looked at the gold-coloured watch on her left wrist: another accessory of her uniform: 8:07 a.m. "Ah!" she cried, leaping from her seat and grabbing Merie and Jamie by their uniform sleeves, identical to hers (only Jamie wore white shorts and a white necktie). "We're gonna be LATE!!"
The thirteen-year-old scurried her brother and sister across and out of the room. Quatre smiled comically as he heard the door swung open, and the Maggie's very loud shriek at the driver:
"Abdul, hurry up!! WE'LL BE LATE!!!"
Mr and Mrs. Winner listened to the limo drive up, and drive away outside. Poor Abdul! Every day now, he would be taking Maggie, Merie, and Jamie to school at eight; then Quatre and Relena to their separate offices by nine. Not an easy task with their children's school twenty minutes away. Then a five minute drive to Quatre's office, and another ten to Relena's. Leave at 8:00, at school by 8:20, back to the house by 8:40 to pick up Mr. And Mrs. Winner, at Quatre's office by 8:45, and at Relena's office by 8:55. A tight schedule for ANY driver!
However, Abdul considered himself lucky! He didn't have to drive Paige to her school (forty-five minutes away). She had her own car: a red neo-sports car that Relena and Quatre had bought for her as an early going-away present for her move to Bristol that next summer.
* * * * *
Maggie waltzed swiftly through Cedar Middle School's main doors. Behind her, Merie and Jamie scuttled nervously. This was their first day of REAL school — in grade one. Sure, they'd been in junior and senior kindergarten, but this was different! It was ALL day!
"Don't worry, squirts!" Maggie saluted them over her shoulder. "I'll make sure you don't get lost!"
She swerved round corner like the pro she was. After all, she was grade eight: the highest grade offered at Cedar. Next year, she'd go to Noadswood, like Paige.
As Maggie turned another corner, pointing things out to her siblings, she bumped into someone.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Maggie said, looking up at whoever she'd intercepted. "I mean, I didn't—!"
Breathtaking!
Before Maggie, were a pair of piercing gray eyes! A tussled array of rich, jet black hair framed a perfectly tanned, set face. The boy looked her age, and Maggie found she was stunned!
"... see you...!" she finished.
"Clearly," he replied, his eyes and face turning softer. "I should think you to be almost clumsy!"
"I-I'm sorry...!" Maggie replied meekly.
"There is nothing to say sorry for, my friend!" he laughed. "My name is Mathajis. Mathajis Sterling. Might I inquire your title, dear lady?"
Maggie blushed. She had never been called a lady before! Well, maybe when she was little, and she hadn't liked the thought. But now, she found it flattering and pleasant. "I... I'm Maggie... Maggie Winner."
Mathajis smiled. "Well, Maggie Winner. It appears as though we are all late. We should be on our ways."
Maggie looked at her watch: 8:36. "Uh, yes. Thank you, Mathajis! Come on, Merie, Jamie!" And she led her twin siblings to their classroom, then found her own — and received a brow beating by her teacher, Mrs. Williamson, for her tardiness.
* * * * *
Maggie stood with Jamie and Merie on the school steps at 3:05 p.m., waiting for Abdul to pick them up. Her mind wheeled. All she could think of was Mathajis. Why?
"Why, hello, Maggie!" came Mathajis's smooth voice.
She turned and looked at him. "Hello, Mathajis. How are you?"
"Very well, thank you!" Suddenly, his gaze went to the ground, and his face was serious. "Um, Maggie...?"
"Would you—? That is, I'd be honoured if—! What I mean is... would you like to come over to my house this afternoon...?"
At that moment, Abdul drove up. Mathajis froze as he saw him, and rushed away. "Perhaps another time, Maggie!"
Merie and Jamie climbed into the car, and Abdul buckled them in. Then, he turned to Maggie, who stood silently watching the direction Mathajis had gone.
"Is something the matter, Miss Margaret?" he asked.
Maggie waited a moment to answer. "... Nothing, Abdul."
"Who was that young man?"
"A friend," Maggie replied, hopping inside the limo. "I think he's a little shy. He found it hard to ask if I'd like to visit his home today."
"But, Miss Margaret, you have flute lessons today." Abdul said, closing the door.
'I know...,' Maggie replied in thought, 'I always have SOMETHING to do... even if I don't WANT to.'
It was true. Maggie was always kept busy. Whether by schoolwork or lessons! But, she had been able to bow out of business lessons, at least (which gave her SOME time to see friends).
She had distinctly told her father when she was ten that she had no interest in being head of his company after him. Business just wasn't her — even though she hadn't figured out EXACTLY what 'her' was yet. She couldn't picture herself as a pin-up girl, like her mother.
The good news for her was that Quatre had accepted her decision (unlike his own father with his decision). Fortunately, the Winner family was not left high and dry from her choice. Jamie was taking a shine to business from Quatre's example. HE was now the heir to the Winner Foundation and all its branches and assets.
"I don't want to run other people's hands!" she had told her father. "I want to use MY hands!"
Maggie's thoughts, all throughout the afternoon and evening, revolved around Mathajis. As she did the little bit of homework assigned for the first day, she was distracted. As she had a snack around four o' clock, she was distracted. Even during dinner, she was contemplating Mathajis!
Relena noticed Maggie's uneasiness, buried deep under her facade of neutrality. The Winner daughter had much practice with this, for sometimes she accompanied her parents to events, and was told to act neither ominous nor thrilled — depending on the occasion, of course.
"Is something the matter, Maggie?" Relena inquired.
Maggie had no time to answer, before Merie blurted it out in front of their parents.
"She's just wishy-washy 'cause Mathajis asked her if she wanted to visit his house today!"
Maggie glared daggers at her sister, and looked at her plate, waiting for reprimandation.
"Oh, really?" Quatre replied, lowering his fork. He glanced toward his wife and saw her disapproval. 'Dangerous path to tread, my Princess!' he thought.
"So, who is this 'Mathajis'?" Relena asked, trying to control her fearful rage. After all, Maggie was growing up. 'Sure, she's older — but she's still MY baby!'
Maggie didn't look up. "A friend."
"Uh-huh!" Relena didn't sound convinced. "And, who are his parents?"
Maggie didn't answer.
"Answer me, young lady!" Relena said, her temper waning.
"... I don't know..."
Relena lost it then. "You don't KNOW?! What are you doing with a boy you don't know?!"
Maggie whispered so softly it was barely audible. "May I be excuse, please...?"
All the while, Quatre watched. Poor Maggie for the assault on her! Poor Relena for her concern about her daughter's welfare!
Relena lost all sense of trust then — as much as she promised to let Maggie go like a teenager. "Margaret, I want you to stay away from that boy! To make sure, you are to stay home in the afternoons for two weeks."
"What?!" Maggie cried, standing. Anger pumped through her veins as she glared at her mother. "I didn't DO anything!"
Relena, realizing what she had just instigated, looked at Maggie sadly. "I'm doing this for your own good... because I care...!"
"My GOOD?!" Maggie shrieked. "My 'good' would be to TRUST me! Why won't you?! Do you want me to give sheltered — and miss out on everything just because you're afraid of me getting hurt?! You don't CARE! You CLING to me like I'm still two years old! I'm NOT a baby anymore!!"
Maggie turned on her heel, and swept herself out of the room, not another word passing from her lips.
Paige, who had sat silently all throughout the fight, stood and excused herself quickly. A storm was brewing, and she must retreat, or be swept away!
Relena looked down, then sent a rhetorical question Quatre's way. "I didn't handle that well, did I?"
"No," he replied, shaking his head. He turned to the twins. "Merie, James, are you finished?"
The two nodded.
"Very well," he replied. "Run along and play, please. Your mother and I need to talk."
Merie and Jamie pounced from their chairs and hurried out of the room. They knew grown-up time when they saw it! Yet another useful skill their sister had taught them years back.
* * * * *
Throughout the next morning, Maggie refused to say a word — especially to Relena. During breakfast, she sat as far from her as possible!
Even though her mother had revoked the grounding, and had apologized, Maggie remained cold. She felt no bitterness for the grounding — that was a passing thing. She hated for knowing that she was untrusted — before she had even been TRIED!
The school day was no better. She was silent, and only answered when the teacher called on her. She wasn't in the mood for being social.
When it was 3:00, she refrained from going straight outside to wait for Abdul. Instead, she searched for Mathajis. When she found him, she gave him a hug.
"Is the offer still open for me to come over?" she asked.
"Why, of course! I'm so glad you are inclined!" he laughed.
"Where do you live? I have to call my dad to let him know."
"I live down Normand Street. A ways away, but my dad picks me up after school. He can drive us, and you can call your dad from my house."
"Ok. Your dad must get off work early to pick you up."
"Yes," Mathajis smiled, walking with her to the back parking lot of the school. "He starts his shift early, though. So, I'm at school by seven each day."
"You're kidding! What do you DO until school starts?!" Maggie replied, sitting on a bench.
"I listen to music," he answered, pulling out a little radio from his knapsack. "I want to be a singer someday."
"Oh, really?" Maggie said, excited. "I wish I could sing!" She folded her arms in displeasure, "All I do is scream! I bet YOU'RE good, though!"
"Well...," Mathajis trailed off, then noticed a black car roll up to the curb in front of them. "That's my dad now."
The two hurried over to the car, and a man stepped out of the driver-side door. He had a the same jet black hair and keen gray eyes, but he was pale of skin. On his face, he was crowned with a rugged beard and mustache. He wore a black leather jacket covering a gray T-shirt, and black trousers slinking over black shoes.
"Hi, Dad!" Mathajis said.
"Hey, Mattie! How's my little man doing?" Mr. Sterling replied, rustling his son's hair. "And who's this LOVELY young lady?" he gestured to Maggie.
She blushed. Once again, she had been called a lady, and not in the negative manner her mother had used the night before. "I... I'm Maggie... Maggie Winner. It's a pleasure to meet you, sir...!"
Mr. Sterling then turned to his son, his expression changing into solemnity. His eyes fogged darker slightly, and he shook her hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Maggie."
For some reason, as Mr. Sterling helped her into the car, Mathajis looked at her from the back seat. His look was sad, and almost... apologetic?
A split second went by, and Maggie felt a hard knock on her head. She was in the back seat of the car now, and reached up to touch the crown of her skull. Her vision was blurry, and she saw red on her hand as she returned it from head to her lap again. Blood? Then, she passed out, seeing nothing else but Mathajis's apologetic eyes as he watched her sink into unconsciousness...
* * * * *
"Merie, Jamie," Abdul said as he drove through the gates of the Winner estate, "are you SURE you don't know where Maggie is?"
Merie turned in her seat to look through the screen separating the passengers from the driver. "No, Abdul. She didn't show up out front after the bell."
Jamie looked up. "I saw her going to her locker, and then go off somewhere."
"Maybe she went to a friend's house," Merie added in an attempt to be helpful.
Abdul's eyes narrowed slightly at the suggestion. "Yes... Perhaps you're right, Merie..."
Merie puffed up her chest. "Of COURSE I am!"
The twins ran inside after Abdul had pulled up to the front. Dorothy stood on the steps, awaiting her charges.
"Dorothy?" Abdul said lowly, and she approached him after letting the children in.
"What is it, Mr. Abdul?"
Abdul was on the verge of snarl. "Please call Mr. and Mrs. Winner. We have a VERY big problem."
* * * * *
Relena dropped the phone. Her look of utter horror loomed in the empty office. The papers atop her desk became, in an instant, irrelevant. A moment passed in silence, and she wandered out of the room, and passed her very concerned secretary, Mya Watson.
"Is something wrong, Mrs. Peacecraft?" Mya asked, putting down her pen. "Are you feeling ill?"
Relena could find no answer, only looked at her in dismay. The politician found her mouth a completely barren desert! She was parched of her daughter, and had no means by which to quell the thirst!
Finally, words came to her. "... I'm going home."
"Mrs. Peacecraft, you have a meeting with the Board of Directors of Makahiri Industries for the authorization of the WARP project this fall! You've been planning it for MONTHS!"
"Push it back, Mya" Relena replied.
"But, Mrs. Peace—!"
"Push— it— back!" Relena repeated coldly.
"Yes, Mrs. Peacecraft...," Mya replied as Relena entered the elevator.
As Relena walked out onto the main floor of the building, she saw Quatre standing by the door. He looked frozen... and speechless. She approached him, and they embraced fiercely.
"Why?" Quatre sobbed into her golden-brown hair. "Why would someone take my Princess...?"
Relena, once again, found no answer. So, she cried instead. And Quatre cried with her.
* * * * *
September 22, AC 214:
There was blackness. All around her. She was alone...
'Where are you, Mommy? Daddy?' Maggie cried wordlessly.
She opened her young eyes, but it was no better than when they had been closed.
"Where... am... I?" she whispered, a phrase not uncommon to her for the last few... what seemed like years to her!
As if in answer, a light switch was flicked, and bright light flashed around her, and she shrank back, her eyes felt as though they burned! It took time before she felt safe enough to open them again, for she was not used to light now.
'How long has it been?' she asked herself. 'What day is it? Month? Year? How long have I been here?'
"Good morning," came the foreboding voice of Mr. Sterling, and she shrank back against the wall yet more. "Ah, don't be like that, Maggie! You haven't been harmed, so don't whine!"
Maggie whimpered at the burning sensation of her bound wrists. Now, the were soaked with sweat and blood from her wriggling. Her feet, too, were bound with cruel rope. She cried out as he ripped off the duct tape covering her mouth.
"Eat!" he said, placing a tray down in front of her.
Maggie looked at him, suspicious. "What's in it?"
He did not answer.
She turned her face away, and kicked the tray over, its contents spilling all over the cold concrete floor.
"Fine, you fucking ingrate!" he replied, furious. "If you REFUSE to eat what's put in front of you, you can damn well STARVE! I'll have already gotten what I want from your parents, anyways!"
"You don't plan to release me, do you? Even if you DO get your precious money!" Maggie replied coldly.
"You're a smart little bitch! No, I don't. You're FAR too familiar with my face to let you go."
He left then, closing the door at the top of the stairs of the basement.
Maggie cried. How had she gotten herself into this?! How would she get out?!
'Oh, Mommy,' she thought. 'I'm SO sorry! You were right — I AM untrustworthy! This is ALL my fault!'
She reflected on the passing time she'd spent here. Mathajis came down to see her often, and they would talk. He said he was sorry, and that if he'd known his father weren't going to release her after being paid, he never would have told she was his friend...
"My dad can't keep his job..." Mathajis had once said. "We NEED money... And, your parents have lots, so..."
"So you use ME for ransom!" she had replied, fire in her eyes.
"It's only for a little while..."
"Mathajis...," she had said, "... I thought we were friends...!"
"We are!"
"No...! No, we're not!" she'd sobbed. Then, the conversation had ended.
Ever since that, Mathajis had stopped visiting, and she had stopped wishing him to.
Maggie closed her eyes again. She heard a strange noise above her — probably Mr. Sterling in one of his tantrums. She had known, first hand, the effects of his rage... Her black eyes and the cuts on her body screamed the silent story.
She heard the door above her open, and boots tramping down the wooden steps. She refused to open her eyes. It would be HIM, coming to lash out at her again... She would NOT give him the satisfaction of her screams, so she braced herself!
The steps come closer, and Maggie squeezes her lids tight! Then, a strange, soft male voice hits her ears like Allah's trumpets!
"Maggie Winner?"
Her lids fly open, and she sees a man dressed in a police uniform. He smiles at her.
"It's ok, Maggie. You're safe now."
Safe? Safe from HIM? Never. She knew he would haunt her until the day she died. As far back into her mind as she could push him, he would ALWAYS be there. Never forgotten. Never forgiven. How similar — and different — it seemed between Maggie's still-born brother, Darin, and this monster of a man! Yet neither would be forgotten... not by her.
She felt very light, and as she slipped out of her thoughts, she realized she was being taken up the stairs, and out of her cursed prison of concrete! She was in a kitchen.
The policeman harried her through the kitchen, hands on her shoulders, and outside the dwelling. She turned round after seeing she was surrounded by trees. She was in a forest. She saw he damned cottage she'd been kept in! She saw the man who took her being wrestled by three policemen, while others stood, ready to pile on should the kidnapper take down a few officers.
Maggie looked around. Mathajis. Where WAS Mathajis?!
A second went by, right before a limousine drove up rapidly. Maggie stood completely still, watching as her mother and father came rushing out. She was wrapped in two loving sets of arms, and for the first time in however long it had been, she felt warm...
"Oh, my baby!" Relena cried, hugging her daughter fiercely. "You're safe now! You're safe!"
There was that word again... Beheld to her in all its uselessness and unoriginality.
"Mommy...? Daddy...?" Maggie replied, uncertainly.
Quatre and Relena hugged her ever the more tighter for those words! How they had LONGED for weeks to hear those endearments! How long seemed the nights where they woke crying for fear of their missing child's death! And how hopeless seemed the search... the multi-lead, dead-end search...!
They remembered the detective who had sent out men to scan the city. Quatre and he had placed advertisements everywhere: TV, radio, paper, internet — all of it! Most of the answers to the ads had turned up empty.
One lead, however, given on the date of September 21, AC 214, had given the description of a man driving a black car. In the back: a little boy... and a 'sleeping' blonde-haired girl wearing a white, navy, gold, and black uniform; a bandage around her head, stained with blood. Heading North-East.
A man approached Maggie and her parents.
"Hello, Detective," Relena said, wiping away her tears.
"Good morning, Mrs.," he replied, then looked at Quatre.
"Detective," Quatre mused, "you never told us who gave you the lead to find Maggie."
"Oh," Detective Wilcox replied, "You're right! Well, I never actually found out who called. It sounded like a boy — in his teens, I'd say. Said his name was Matt. Didn't give a last name, though. Odd. That kid would've gotten a reward. And I couldn't trace it either — he called from a payphone."
Maggie closed her eyes a moment. She knew. Oh, she knew who it was.
'Mathajis...,' she thought, 'I think we're friends again—!'
Her thoughts were jumbled by the sound of a gun being drawn! Maggie threw open her eyes, and saw the madman, Mr. Sterling, pointing a gun at someone! Who?! Maggie's eyes followed the direction of the gun's barrel! She saw the target, and leapt.
"No, Mom!" she cried, pushing Relena out of the way.
Maggie felt an explosion in her body, and she hit the ground. She heard the screams and sobs of her mother, and as she was rolled onto her back, she faintly saw her father's mouth moving. He was trying to say something to her... but what.
'Dad,' she said without saying, for her mouth wasn't responding to her brains orders, 'I can't hear you. I can't—!'
Nothingness.
* * * * *
September 23, AC 214
Hampton-South Hospital:
There were bright lights everywhere. Very different from the last time woke... in a dark cellar. Her lids parted. She squinted — too bright!
She heard voices, and as her eyes readjusted to light, she saw the outlines of two little faces above her. The voices were excited, but muffled.
"Mommy, Mommy, look! See, Maggie's waking up!"
"You, too, Daddy!" came the second of the voices. "Come on, she's waking up!"
Her vision cleared. She saw the white walls, the curtain rail, the annoying ceiling tiles...
She moaned. "I MUST be in a hospital...!"
"Smart as a whip, I say!" came a third voice.
Maggie sat up, recognition filling her as she stared at the end of her bed. "Nana!"
Dorothy smiled. "Good to see you among the LIVING again, Ms. Margaret."
The young girl's eyes wandered to the rest of the room. Merie and Jamie stood on chairs on either side of her bed, leaning over the safeguard rails. Her mother and father stood beside the twins: Relena by Jamie, Quatre by Merie.
They all heard a commotion outside:
"I'm sorry, sir. You can't go in!" said the nurse.
"The HELL I can't! That's my FAMILY in there!"
A second later, Duo came storming in, the poor nurse close behind, protesting.
"Hey, Squirt!" Duo grinned, patting Maggie on the back. "How ya feeling?"
Maggie looked at him. "I have a headache. My legs are numb. My stomach is numb. I woke up in an UGLY hospital. The food will be TERRIBLE, I expect. And, I don't know what day it is!"
Duo laughed. "I thought I was the comically literal one!"
Maggie smiled. "Retire."
Duo's laugh became a bellow!
"All right, Mr. Maxwell, that's enough," a woman smiled, entering the room wearing a white hospital coat.
"How much longer will she be hospitalized, Dr. Carlton?" Quatre asked, squeezing his Princess's hand gently.
"I expect we'll keep her over night... just to be sure. After that, she's homeward bound."
"What do you mean 'how much longer,' Dad?" Maggie asked.
"Sweetheart," Relena replied, "you've before here treating your bullet wound for two days."
"Yeah," Duo added, "you just upped and jumped in front of that bullet for you old ma!"
Relena glared at Duo.
"Kidding, Relena, geez!" Duo muttered, hand up in an "Easy, girl!" position.
'Bullet?' Maggie thought. 'What bullet? I never—! Uh...! Oh... that's right. I got hit.'
She looked around her, at her family. Thank Allah they didn't give up! Thank Allah she had them to love her! Too bad Mathajis never got that chance...
* * * * *
So, now you know. As much as my family has told me it wasn't my fault... it was. Had I not rebelled against my mother, it would have been different. The grief and worry they suffered on my account would have been avoided, my mother's life would NOT have been threatened — even though I saved her. It wouldn't have happened, if not for me...
Truth be told as to why I fell for such an easy abduction... I loved Mathajis... and I still do. Even though I knew him only a little while, he remains in my heart. I was foolish to misread his feelings about me. Foolish to believe that love returned would come to me so soon! To love, for me, is easy... to be loved in return is not so.
As much as I have tried to repay my misdeeds in trust, it was my action that led to it all. And even now, I carry the scar upon my stomach to remind me... redemption is a word, and I am a fool...
THE END
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Redemption Is A Word, And I Am A Fool
By: Firefrost
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Many things in life are hard. Some things strain the body, and others strain the mind. But, what of strain of the heart? Once, I sought to redeem myself, by saving my loved ones from the mistake I made... But, afterwards, that didn't solve anything. It was my fault in the first place, and the pain of that doesn't go away with time...
* * * * *
August 31, AC 214,
Earth, England, Southampton Spaceport:
The whizzing hum of the space shuttle wheels on the concrete runway jolted Margaret Winner out of her sleep. She looked around frantically, and the girl beside her laughed.
Seventeen-year-old Mindy-Paige Barton giggled, her brown hair slipping down to her mid-back, and her deep green eyes gleaming with delight. "What's the matter, Maggie? Afraid I'd left you behind?!"
Maggie looked at her friend strangely. "Well, I have to make sure you don't ditch me, don't I?"
Paige laughed outright now, and turned in her seat. "We'll be going soon."
"Mm," Maggie nodded, and looked ahead of her. They were in first class on a trip from the L4 space colony to Earth. It was the second time she'd traveled between the two in her life.
Maggie and Paige stood, and shuffled out of the shuttle, down the disembarking stairs, and right into the arms of Maggie's parents, and a few friends.
"I'm so glad you two made it safely!" Relena Peacecraft-Winner smiled, hugging her daughter tightly, then hugging Paige.
Maggie smiled, embarrassed slightly. "It was only a flight, Mom! It's not like we'd get shot out of the sky! No gravity in space, remember?"
Her mother shot her a dirty look, then smiled and shook her head. "You're hopeless, Maggie!"
Quatre Winner looked at his eldest daughter, and hugged her. "Good trip, Princess?"
"Yes, Dad!" was Maggie's reply, eyes shining. "Thanks for sending me!" Then, Maggie turned her attention to the children standing just behind her father, and she leaned forward to be at eye level with them. "And how have you two been?"
Five-year-olds James and Merishen Winner eyed her, and answered with one voice. "Fine!"
Merie burst out, excitedly. "Oh, Maggie, how was it?! Did you get to see you old friends?! What's it like on a colony?! Did you see the sights?! Did you like it?!"
Maggie laughed. "Let's see! Um, it was good. Yes, I saw my friends. It's like being on Earth, only you see the stars better. No, I didn't see anything I hadn't seen before. And, yes, I liked it very much!"
Now, Maggie took notice of the other people standing there. "Uncle Duo, Auntie Hilde!" she spotted two short figures behind her aunt and uncle. "Nicky, Theo!"
Nic (now ten) said hello, and his sister, Theo (freshly turned six) just waved shyly.
"Good you're back!" Duo grinned, making up for his children's unintentional lack of enthusiasm, and slapped Maggie on the back affectionately.
"Come on, Princess," Quatre said, putting an arm around Maggie's shoulders, and moving her towards the white limousine waiting a few yards away. "Let's get you home."
Home. Maggie thought the word strange. For the passed three weeks (on her summer vacation) she had been on L4 with her best friend, Paige. L4 had been her home until AC 211, when her parents decided it was time to move.
By AC 212, Maggie was one year into a new life on Earth in Southampton, England. Now, the Winners lived only a few blocks away from Hilde and Duo. The Maxwells had moved to Southampton from L2 after setting up a location for their machine corporation, Maxwell Machines, in AC 210.
Maggie closed her eyes as she entered the limo, and the rest of her family followed afterward. Her parents sat opposite her, with Merie. As for Paige and Jamie, they sat on either side of Maggie. Duo and his family followed in their new black minivan.
"The other one was getting old," Duo had smiled when Maggie had inquired about it.
Merie and Jamie had never known L4, Maggie thought. They were only 2 when the Winners had moved.
Paige had come to live with Maggie and her family a year ago, when her father, Trowa, had died of SCLC (Small Cell Lung Cancer). That had been a difficult time... Not only was Paige grieving, but Maggie and her parents were, too, because Quatre had always been very close to Trowa.
'Oh well...,' Maggie sighed to herself. 'Uncle Trowa is happy. He knows we're taking good care of Paige...'
"Hey, Dad?" Maggie asked. "Why didn't Nana come?"
Quatre laughed, "She's got a cold. You know her: won't go anywhere, even if it's just a slight sniffle!"
Maggie laughed, too. That summed up the primness of Dorothy to a T!
The rest of the ride was silent. Maggie's parents simply watched their children quietly. Merie and James fell asleep to the rhythm of the car. Paige (as usual) had her nose in a book: The Princess Bride.
Maggie, herself, wasn't in any particular mood for speech, anyway. School would start on Monday, and it was Saturday. This time of year was never a happy time for children, especially teenagers!
Of course, Maggie wasn't exactly a teenager. She was only thirteen: a preteen, and teeny-bopper — but, close enough! It was Paige that reveled in her teens, and Maggie started to envy it... just a little. After all, Paige was her friend.
Once, Paige had pinpointed the cause of this envy. It was more along the lines of fear. Paige was seventeen, and would soon be leaving the Winner's household to attend university. She had already set her sights on Pembrook — all the way in Bristol — for her studies. She wanted to be an archivist. It would only be one more year before she left...
The Winner home loomed up through a hedge-covered stone wall. A fountain was present in the driving loop in front. The front gardens teamed with blossoms assorted colours, and the pretty carpentry and masonry work on the great house was breathtaking — Maggie's mother had GREAT taste in fashion and history! A trait that Maggie was eager to try to imitate, more so for the fashion!
As Maggie and her family exited the limousine, she looked at the house. All it did was remind her that everyone else seemed to have a niche. She was the exception. Her mother was a pacifist politician. Her father, a businessman — also pacifist. Jamie and Merie had taken on the role of troublemakers (that once had been her title). Paige was designed around books! Even Maggie's aunts and uncles had found their calling in life!
She DID have an interest in wordplay, and reading (thanks to Paige's sessions), but that wasn't enough for a career, was it? JUST interest?
The Maxwells honked their horn from the entrance gate: a quick farewell, as they made their way back to their own home.
Relena called to Maggie from the doorway after the rest of the family had gone inside. "Sweetheart, are you coming in?"
"In a minute!" Maggie replied, staring at her surroundings.
What was her purpose?
* * * * *
Sunday morning. The whole of it was spent trying on new clothes Relena had bought for the new year. Maggie became new best friends with the mirror, and it did not really displease her! She was, after all, a pretty girl. Her fair platinum locks tumbled to just beyond her shoulders, as it always had, for she refused to let anyone extend or cut it!
Her gentle blue eyes were ovals, set into a round, fair face. She was developing; no longer the gangly little girl. She was becoming a shapely woman, and this made her parents slightly uneasy, though they did their best to hide it. Especially after a new, monthly friend had begun dropping in on Maggie two months ago.
Relena finished tying a decorative white scarf around Maggie's neck. Now, Relena's daughter stood in black leather platform knee-boots, a deep blue fitted skirt, and a red blouse with fanned out arms.
This Maggie made Relena squirm in her seat. A sexy girl stood before her — one that was wild, and already wielded a AA bust, and shaping hip curves! She had considered giving Maggie a seven o'clock curfew, but decided not for fear of starting the road to rebellion. Maggie was a smart girl. She new how to handle herself, and the boys... As long as she knew where Maggie was, and would be home by nine, Relena would be content.
"Mum!" Maggie protested. "I don't need new clothes! I have a school uniform!"
Relena crinkled her nose. "You still have afternoons. You will NOT going running around in your uniform all day!"
Maggie rolled her eyes. True, she had afternoons, but she already had a whole mountain of perfectly FINE clothes! Her mother had this strange obsession with renewing everyone's wardrobe every two years. It had become a tradition with the Winners.
That Sunday: September 1, AC 214, came and went all too quickly with preparations for school. Pretty soon, Maggie and her siblings found themselves waking to the dawn of Monday September 2.
Maggie bounded down to breakfast at 7:39 a.m., only to find the rest of her family already eating. She took her seat beside Jamie.
Hannah, the chef, placed a heaping plate of food in front of her, and she ravenously began to stuff herself — in the most polite manner possible.
Quatre eyed his daughter for a long while from over the rim of his newspaper. Her hair was neatly combed, and part of it was pulled into a rhinestone hair clip at the back. He smiled, "I'm glad they changed your uniform this year. I didn't much care for last year's."
Maggie stopped and looked down at her clothes. A white knee skirt that covered her thighs. A tucked-in navy blue T-shirt with her school emblem embroidered on the pocket: a golden lion. A white bow under her collar, and her black slip shoes with gold buckles.
"Yeah," she replied, swallowing her mouthful, "I like it better, too."
"Daddy," Maggie asked, looking around, "where's Paige?"
Relena smiled, and looked up from her papers. "She's gone already, Maggie. Noadswood Highschool starts a half hour before your school. At eight."
Then, Hannah interrupted. "Speakin' o' which, I'm thinkin' you an' your brother an' sister aught be off soon, Margie!"
Maggie looked at the gold-coloured watch on her left wrist: another accessory of her uniform: 8:07 a.m. "Ah!" she cried, leaping from her seat and grabbing Merie and Jamie by their uniform sleeves, identical to hers (only Jamie wore white shorts and a white necktie). "We're gonna be LATE!!"
The thirteen-year-old scurried her brother and sister across and out of the room. Quatre smiled comically as he heard the door swung open, and the Maggie's very loud shriek at the driver:
"Abdul, hurry up!! WE'LL BE LATE!!!"
Mr and Mrs. Winner listened to the limo drive up, and drive away outside. Poor Abdul! Every day now, he would be taking Maggie, Merie, and Jamie to school at eight; then Quatre and Relena to their separate offices by nine. Not an easy task with their children's school twenty minutes away. Then a five minute drive to Quatre's office, and another ten to Relena's. Leave at 8:00, at school by 8:20, back to the house by 8:40 to pick up Mr. And Mrs. Winner, at Quatre's office by 8:45, and at Relena's office by 8:55. A tight schedule for ANY driver!
However, Abdul considered himself lucky! He didn't have to drive Paige to her school (forty-five minutes away). She had her own car: a red neo-sports car that Relena and Quatre had bought for her as an early going-away present for her move to Bristol that next summer.
* * * * *
Maggie waltzed swiftly through Cedar Middle School's main doors. Behind her, Merie and Jamie scuttled nervously. This was their first day of REAL school — in grade one. Sure, they'd been in junior and senior kindergarten, but this was different! It was ALL day!
"Don't worry, squirts!" Maggie saluted them over her shoulder. "I'll make sure you don't get lost!"
She swerved round corner like the pro she was. After all, she was grade eight: the highest grade offered at Cedar. Next year, she'd go to Noadswood, like Paige.
As Maggie turned another corner, pointing things out to her siblings, she bumped into someone.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Maggie said, looking up at whoever she'd intercepted. "I mean, I didn't—!"
Breathtaking!
Before Maggie, were a pair of piercing gray eyes! A tussled array of rich, jet black hair framed a perfectly tanned, set face. The boy looked her age, and Maggie found she was stunned!
"... see you...!" she finished.
"Clearly," he replied, his eyes and face turning softer. "I should think you to be almost clumsy!"
"I-I'm sorry...!" Maggie replied meekly.
"There is nothing to say sorry for, my friend!" he laughed. "My name is Mathajis. Mathajis Sterling. Might I inquire your title, dear lady?"
Maggie blushed. She had never been called a lady before! Well, maybe when she was little, and she hadn't liked the thought. But now, she found it flattering and pleasant. "I... I'm Maggie... Maggie Winner."
Mathajis smiled. "Well, Maggie Winner. It appears as though we are all late. We should be on our ways."
Maggie looked at her watch: 8:36. "Uh, yes. Thank you, Mathajis! Come on, Merie, Jamie!" And she led her twin siblings to their classroom, then found her own — and received a brow beating by her teacher, Mrs. Williamson, for her tardiness.
* * * * *
Maggie stood with Jamie and Merie on the school steps at 3:05 p.m., waiting for Abdul to pick them up. Her mind wheeled. All she could think of was Mathajis. Why?
"Why, hello, Maggie!" came Mathajis's smooth voice.
She turned and looked at him. "Hello, Mathajis. How are you?"
"Very well, thank you!" Suddenly, his gaze went to the ground, and his face was serious. "Um, Maggie...?"
"Would you—? That is, I'd be honoured if—! What I mean is... would you like to come over to my house this afternoon...?"
At that moment, Abdul drove up. Mathajis froze as he saw him, and rushed away. "Perhaps another time, Maggie!"
Merie and Jamie climbed into the car, and Abdul buckled them in. Then, he turned to Maggie, who stood silently watching the direction Mathajis had gone.
"Is something the matter, Miss Margaret?" he asked.
Maggie waited a moment to answer. "... Nothing, Abdul."
"Who was that young man?"
"A friend," Maggie replied, hopping inside the limo. "I think he's a little shy. He found it hard to ask if I'd like to visit his home today."
"But, Miss Margaret, you have flute lessons today." Abdul said, closing the door.
'I know...,' Maggie replied in thought, 'I always have SOMETHING to do... even if I don't WANT to.'
It was true. Maggie was always kept busy. Whether by schoolwork or lessons! But, she had been able to bow out of business lessons, at least (which gave her SOME time to see friends).
She had distinctly told her father when she was ten that she had no interest in being head of his company after him. Business just wasn't her — even though she hadn't figured out EXACTLY what 'her' was yet. She couldn't picture herself as a pin-up girl, like her mother.
The good news for her was that Quatre had accepted her decision (unlike his own father with his decision). Fortunately, the Winner family was not left high and dry from her choice. Jamie was taking a shine to business from Quatre's example. HE was now the heir to the Winner Foundation and all its branches and assets.
"I don't want to run other people's hands!" she had told her father. "I want to use MY hands!"
Maggie's thoughts, all throughout the afternoon and evening, revolved around Mathajis. As she did the little bit of homework assigned for the first day, she was distracted. As she had a snack around four o' clock, she was distracted. Even during dinner, she was contemplating Mathajis!
Relena noticed Maggie's uneasiness, buried deep under her facade of neutrality. The Winner daughter had much practice with this, for sometimes she accompanied her parents to events, and was told to act neither ominous nor thrilled — depending on the occasion, of course.
"Is something the matter, Maggie?" Relena inquired.
Maggie had no time to answer, before Merie blurted it out in front of their parents.
"She's just wishy-washy 'cause Mathajis asked her if she wanted to visit his house today!"
Maggie glared daggers at her sister, and looked at her plate, waiting for reprimandation.
"Oh, really?" Quatre replied, lowering his fork. He glanced toward his wife and saw her disapproval. 'Dangerous path to tread, my Princess!' he thought.
"So, who is this 'Mathajis'?" Relena asked, trying to control her fearful rage. After all, Maggie was growing up. 'Sure, she's older — but she's still MY baby!'
Maggie didn't look up. "A friend."
"Uh-huh!" Relena didn't sound convinced. "And, who are his parents?"
Maggie didn't answer.
"Answer me, young lady!" Relena said, her temper waning.
"... I don't know..."
Relena lost it then. "You don't KNOW?! What are you doing with a boy you don't know?!"
Maggie whispered so softly it was barely audible. "May I be excuse, please...?"
All the while, Quatre watched. Poor Maggie for the assault on her! Poor Relena for her concern about her daughter's welfare!
Relena lost all sense of trust then — as much as she promised to let Maggie go like a teenager. "Margaret, I want you to stay away from that boy! To make sure, you are to stay home in the afternoons for two weeks."
"What?!" Maggie cried, standing. Anger pumped through her veins as she glared at her mother. "I didn't DO anything!"
Relena, realizing what she had just instigated, looked at Maggie sadly. "I'm doing this for your own good... because I care...!"
"My GOOD?!" Maggie shrieked. "My 'good' would be to TRUST me! Why won't you?! Do you want me to give sheltered — and miss out on everything just because you're afraid of me getting hurt?! You don't CARE! You CLING to me like I'm still two years old! I'm NOT a baby anymore!!"
Maggie turned on her heel, and swept herself out of the room, not another word passing from her lips.
Paige, who had sat silently all throughout the fight, stood and excused herself quickly. A storm was brewing, and she must retreat, or be swept away!
Relena looked down, then sent a rhetorical question Quatre's way. "I didn't handle that well, did I?"
"No," he replied, shaking his head. He turned to the twins. "Merie, James, are you finished?"
The two nodded.
"Very well," he replied. "Run along and play, please. Your mother and I need to talk."
Merie and Jamie pounced from their chairs and hurried out of the room. They knew grown-up time when they saw it! Yet another useful skill their sister had taught them years back.
* * * * *
Throughout the next morning, Maggie refused to say a word — especially to Relena. During breakfast, she sat as far from her as possible!
Even though her mother had revoked the grounding, and had apologized, Maggie remained cold. She felt no bitterness for the grounding — that was a passing thing. She hated for knowing that she was untrusted — before she had even been TRIED!
The school day was no better. She was silent, and only answered when the teacher called on her. She wasn't in the mood for being social.
When it was 3:00, she refrained from going straight outside to wait for Abdul. Instead, she searched for Mathajis. When she found him, she gave him a hug.
"Is the offer still open for me to come over?" she asked.
"Why, of course! I'm so glad you are inclined!" he laughed.
"Where do you live? I have to call my dad to let him know."
"I live down Normand Street. A ways away, but my dad picks me up after school. He can drive us, and you can call your dad from my house."
"Ok. Your dad must get off work early to pick you up."
"Yes," Mathajis smiled, walking with her to the back parking lot of the school. "He starts his shift early, though. So, I'm at school by seven each day."
"You're kidding! What do you DO until school starts?!" Maggie replied, sitting on a bench.
"I listen to music," he answered, pulling out a little radio from his knapsack. "I want to be a singer someday."
"Oh, really?" Maggie said, excited. "I wish I could sing!" She folded her arms in displeasure, "All I do is scream! I bet YOU'RE good, though!"
"Well...," Mathajis trailed off, then noticed a black car roll up to the curb in front of them. "That's my dad now."
The two hurried over to the car, and a man stepped out of the driver-side door. He had a the same jet black hair and keen gray eyes, but he was pale of skin. On his face, he was crowned with a rugged beard and mustache. He wore a black leather jacket covering a gray T-shirt, and black trousers slinking over black shoes.
"Hi, Dad!" Mathajis said.
"Hey, Mattie! How's my little man doing?" Mr. Sterling replied, rustling his son's hair. "And who's this LOVELY young lady?" he gestured to Maggie.
She blushed. Once again, she had been called a lady, and not in the negative manner her mother had used the night before. "I... I'm Maggie... Maggie Winner. It's a pleasure to meet you, sir...!"
Mr. Sterling then turned to his son, his expression changing into solemnity. His eyes fogged darker slightly, and he shook her hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Maggie."
For some reason, as Mr. Sterling helped her into the car, Mathajis looked at her from the back seat. His look was sad, and almost... apologetic?
A split second went by, and Maggie felt a hard knock on her head. She was in the back seat of the car now, and reached up to touch the crown of her skull. Her vision was blurry, and she saw red on her hand as she returned it from head to her lap again. Blood? Then, she passed out, seeing nothing else but Mathajis's apologetic eyes as he watched her sink into unconsciousness...
* * * * *
"Merie, Jamie," Abdul said as he drove through the gates of the Winner estate, "are you SURE you don't know where Maggie is?"
Merie turned in her seat to look through the screen separating the passengers from the driver. "No, Abdul. She didn't show up out front after the bell."
Jamie looked up. "I saw her going to her locker, and then go off somewhere."
"Maybe she went to a friend's house," Merie added in an attempt to be helpful.
Abdul's eyes narrowed slightly at the suggestion. "Yes... Perhaps you're right, Merie..."
Merie puffed up her chest. "Of COURSE I am!"
The twins ran inside after Abdul had pulled up to the front. Dorothy stood on the steps, awaiting her charges.
"Dorothy?" Abdul said lowly, and she approached him after letting the children in.
"What is it, Mr. Abdul?"
Abdul was on the verge of snarl. "Please call Mr. and Mrs. Winner. We have a VERY big problem."
* * * * *
Relena dropped the phone. Her look of utter horror loomed in the empty office. The papers atop her desk became, in an instant, irrelevant. A moment passed in silence, and she wandered out of the room, and passed her very concerned secretary, Mya Watson.
"Is something wrong, Mrs. Peacecraft?" Mya asked, putting down her pen. "Are you feeling ill?"
Relena could find no answer, only looked at her in dismay. The politician found her mouth a completely barren desert! She was parched of her daughter, and had no means by which to quell the thirst!
Finally, words came to her. "... I'm going home."
"Mrs. Peacecraft, you have a meeting with the Board of Directors of Makahiri Industries for the authorization of the WARP project this fall! You've been planning it for MONTHS!"
"Push it back, Mya" Relena replied.
"But, Mrs. Peace—!"
"Push— it— back!" Relena repeated coldly.
"Yes, Mrs. Peacecraft...," Mya replied as Relena entered the elevator.
As Relena walked out onto the main floor of the building, she saw Quatre standing by the door. He looked frozen... and speechless. She approached him, and they embraced fiercely.
"Why?" Quatre sobbed into her golden-brown hair. "Why would someone take my Princess...?"
Relena, once again, found no answer. So, she cried instead. And Quatre cried with her.
* * * * *
September 22, AC 214:
There was blackness. All around her. She was alone...
'Where are you, Mommy? Daddy?' Maggie cried wordlessly.
She opened her young eyes, but it was no better than when they had been closed.
"Where... am... I?" she whispered, a phrase not uncommon to her for the last few... what seemed like years to her!
As if in answer, a light switch was flicked, and bright light flashed around her, and she shrank back, her eyes felt as though they burned! It took time before she felt safe enough to open them again, for she was not used to light now.
'How long has it been?' she asked herself. 'What day is it? Month? Year? How long have I been here?'
"Good morning," came the foreboding voice of Mr. Sterling, and she shrank back against the wall yet more. "Ah, don't be like that, Maggie! You haven't been harmed, so don't whine!"
Maggie whimpered at the burning sensation of her bound wrists. Now, the were soaked with sweat and blood from her wriggling. Her feet, too, were bound with cruel rope. She cried out as he ripped off the duct tape covering her mouth.
"Eat!" he said, placing a tray down in front of her.
Maggie looked at him, suspicious. "What's in it?"
He did not answer.
She turned her face away, and kicked the tray over, its contents spilling all over the cold concrete floor.
"Fine, you fucking ingrate!" he replied, furious. "If you REFUSE to eat what's put in front of you, you can damn well STARVE! I'll have already gotten what I want from your parents, anyways!"
"You don't plan to release me, do you? Even if you DO get your precious money!" Maggie replied coldly.
"You're a smart little bitch! No, I don't. You're FAR too familiar with my face to let you go."
He left then, closing the door at the top of the stairs of the basement.
Maggie cried. How had she gotten herself into this?! How would she get out?!
'Oh, Mommy,' she thought. 'I'm SO sorry! You were right — I AM untrustworthy! This is ALL my fault!'
She reflected on the passing time she'd spent here. Mathajis came down to see her often, and they would talk. He said he was sorry, and that if he'd known his father weren't going to release her after being paid, he never would have told she was his friend...
"My dad can't keep his job..." Mathajis had once said. "We NEED money... And, your parents have lots, so..."
"So you use ME for ransom!" she had replied, fire in her eyes.
"It's only for a little while..."
"Mathajis...," she had said, "... I thought we were friends...!"
"We are!"
"No...! No, we're not!" she'd sobbed. Then, the conversation had ended.
Ever since that, Mathajis had stopped visiting, and she had stopped wishing him to.
Maggie closed her eyes again. She heard a strange noise above her — probably Mr. Sterling in one of his tantrums. She had known, first hand, the effects of his rage... Her black eyes and the cuts on her body screamed the silent story.
She heard the door above her open, and boots tramping down the wooden steps. She refused to open her eyes. It would be HIM, coming to lash out at her again... She would NOT give him the satisfaction of her screams, so she braced herself!
The steps come closer, and Maggie squeezes her lids tight! Then, a strange, soft male voice hits her ears like Allah's trumpets!
"Maggie Winner?"
Her lids fly open, and she sees a man dressed in a police uniform. He smiles at her.
"It's ok, Maggie. You're safe now."
Safe? Safe from HIM? Never. She knew he would haunt her until the day she died. As far back into her mind as she could push him, he would ALWAYS be there. Never forgotten. Never forgiven. How similar — and different — it seemed between Maggie's still-born brother, Darin, and this monster of a man! Yet neither would be forgotten... not by her.
She felt very light, and as she slipped out of her thoughts, she realized she was being taken up the stairs, and out of her cursed prison of concrete! She was in a kitchen.
The policeman harried her through the kitchen, hands on her shoulders, and outside the dwelling. She turned round after seeing she was surrounded by trees. She was in a forest. She saw he damned cottage she'd been kept in! She saw the man who took her being wrestled by three policemen, while others stood, ready to pile on should the kidnapper take down a few officers.
Maggie looked around. Mathajis. Where WAS Mathajis?!
A second went by, right before a limousine drove up rapidly. Maggie stood completely still, watching as her mother and father came rushing out. She was wrapped in two loving sets of arms, and for the first time in however long it had been, she felt warm...
"Oh, my baby!" Relena cried, hugging her daughter fiercely. "You're safe now! You're safe!"
There was that word again... Beheld to her in all its uselessness and unoriginality.
"Mommy...? Daddy...?" Maggie replied, uncertainly.
Quatre and Relena hugged her ever the more tighter for those words! How they had LONGED for weeks to hear those endearments! How long seemed the nights where they woke crying for fear of their missing child's death! And how hopeless seemed the search... the multi-lead, dead-end search...!
They remembered the detective who had sent out men to scan the city. Quatre and he had placed advertisements everywhere: TV, radio, paper, internet — all of it! Most of the answers to the ads had turned up empty.
One lead, however, given on the date of September 21, AC 214, had given the description of a man driving a black car. In the back: a little boy... and a 'sleeping' blonde-haired girl wearing a white, navy, gold, and black uniform; a bandage around her head, stained with blood. Heading North-East.
A man approached Maggie and her parents.
"Hello, Detective," Relena said, wiping away her tears.
"Good morning, Mrs.," he replied, then looked at Quatre.
"Detective," Quatre mused, "you never told us who gave you the lead to find Maggie."
"Oh," Detective Wilcox replied, "You're right! Well, I never actually found out who called. It sounded like a boy — in his teens, I'd say. Said his name was Matt. Didn't give a last name, though. Odd. That kid would've gotten a reward. And I couldn't trace it either — he called from a payphone."
Maggie closed her eyes a moment. She knew. Oh, she knew who it was.
'Mathajis...,' she thought, 'I think we're friends again—!'
Her thoughts were jumbled by the sound of a gun being drawn! Maggie threw open her eyes, and saw the madman, Mr. Sterling, pointing a gun at someone! Who?! Maggie's eyes followed the direction of the gun's barrel! She saw the target, and leapt.
"No, Mom!" she cried, pushing Relena out of the way.
Maggie felt an explosion in her body, and she hit the ground. She heard the screams and sobs of her mother, and as she was rolled onto her back, she faintly saw her father's mouth moving. He was trying to say something to her... but what.
'Dad,' she said without saying, for her mouth wasn't responding to her brains orders, 'I can't hear you. I can't—!'
Nothingness.
* * * * *
September 23, AC 214
Hampton-South Hospital:
There were bright lights everywhere. Very different from the last time woke... in a dark cellar. Her lids parted. She squinted — too bright!
She heard voices, and as her eyes readjusted to light, she saw the outlines of two little faces above her. The voices were excited, but muffled.
"Mommy, Mommy, look! See, Maggie's waking up!"
"You, too, Daddy!" came the second of the voices. "Come on, she's waking up!"
Her vision cleared. She saw the white walls, the curtain rail, the annoying ceiling tiles...
She moaned. "I MUST be in a hospital...!"
"Smart as a whip, I say!" came a third voice.
Maggie sat up, recognition filling her as she stared at the end of her bed. "Nana!"
Dorothy smiled. "Good to see you among the LIVING again, Ms. Margaret."
The young girl's eyes wandered to the rest of the room. Merie and Jamie stood on chairs on either side of her bed, leaning over the safeguard rails. Her mother and father stood beside the twins: Relena by Jamie, Quatre by Merie.
They all heard a commotion outside:
"I'm sorry, sir. You can't go in!" said the nurse.
"The HELL I can't! That's my FAMILY in there!"
A second later, Duo came storming in, the poor nurse close behind, protesting.
"Hey, Squirt!" Duo grinned, patting Maggie on the back. "How ya feeling?"
Maggie looked at him. "I have a headache. My legs are numb. My stomach is numb. I woke up in an UGLY hospital. The food will be TERRIBLE, I expect. And, I don't know what day it is!"
Duo laughed. "I thought I was the comically literal one!"
Maggie smiled. "Retire."
Duo's laugh became a bellow!
"All right, Mr. Maxwell, that's enough," a woman smiled, entering the room wearing a white hospital coat.
"How much longer will she be hospitalized, Dr. Carlton?" Quatre asked, squeezing his Princess's hand gently.
"I expect we'll keep her over night... just to be sure. After that, she's homeward bound."
"What do you mean 'how much longer,' Dad?" Maggie asked.
"Sweetheart," Relena replied, "you've before here treating your bullet wound for two days."
"Yeah," Duo added, "you just upped and jumped in front of that bullet for you old ma!"
Relena glared at Duo.
"Kidding, Relena, geez!" Duo muttered, hand up in an "Easy, girl!" position.
'Bullet?' Maggie thought. 'What bullet? I never—! Uh...! Oh... that's right. I got hit.'
She looked around her, at her family. Thank Allah they didn't give up! Thank Allah she had them to love her! Too bad Mathajis never got that chance...
* * * * *
So, now you know. As much as my family has told me it wasn't my fault... it was. Had I not rebelled against my mother, it would have been different. The grief and worry they suffered on my account would have been avoided, my mother's life would NOT have been threatened — even though I saved her. It wouldn't have happened, if not for me...
Truth be told as to why I fell for such an easy abduction... I loved Mathajis... and I still do. Even though I knew him only a little while, he remains in my heart. I was foolish to misread his feelings about me. Foolish to believe that love returned would come to me so soon! To love, for me, is easy... to be loved in return is not so.
As much as I have tried to repay my misdeeds in trust, it was my action that led to it all. And even now, I carry the scar upon my stomach to remind me... redemption is a word, and I am a fool...
THE END