BY THE ROADWAY …EPILOGUE
HAAAIIII! So Guess what? 'Night Grinned Viciously Back' is officially a living thing with dividing cells LOL ANYONE who's read NGVB already, has already read this story... If you go look at NGVB, you will notice it is A LOT trimmer without these three chapters... ALSO more to the point. So I thought, what the 'ell.
((Your only warning of the darkness of the theme will be that Acid Bath's 'Venus Blue' was the music that fit the mood for writing this section, or 'Bones of Baby Dolls' by the same...it is a waltz after all... When The Kite String Pops was some of their best work. You could look up Hot Chip's 'The Warning' if you want something lighter and a bit less morbid in the background…))
Angels Appear at First as Demons …to those Dominated by Fear…
…Late Winter of AC 197
The sun crested the eastern hill and its light finally streamed in through the partially opened curtain. Trieze squeezed his eyes tighter to attempt to block out the intrusion and stretched his arms out wide to either side seeking his lover's soft warm form. He sighed when he found nothing but more cold sheets which he turned and wrapped up in a hug anyways, inhaling the traces of her scent.
Of course Lady Une had already gotten up and left for the Preventors headquarters. After a little while he eventually had the courage to open his eyes and deal with the blinding world of the daytime hours.
Trieze got up and started the bath filling.
Some rare days he found it amusing all the effort his uncle's henchmen had put into 'disciplining' him in various insidious ways – since his acquired abilities had gone undiscovered by his captors they had never thought of anything as simple as pushing him into a shower stall with the water running or slowly sifting a bucket of sand over him. Although he would never admit it to even Nitro Mudo, his closest confidant, the rest of the time Trieze Khushrenada couldn't ignore the enormous burden of normal day-in day-out living with the constant background analysis in his mind of every sensory input.
He tried to deal with it as best he could and enjoy what there was to be enjoyed about the peace he'd won for the world.
There was of course the honorary position at the Preventors he had been given with an extra tight handshake and a quiet plea to not actively influence the fragile political reformation that was taking place in the United Earth Sphere. That suited Sir Godrick's son just fine as he was able to work on his own schedule and start focusing on the network of investment companies and funds that his father had set up two decades ago and had gone neglected during the war.
With Dorothy's disappearance after the last battle he had inherited the Catalonia estate that had been separated from the Khushrenada's by his Grandfather and nearly tripled his accounts with all the money his Uncle had made from his war-machines. It fixed any issues that had been ignored for the years he was forced to turn his back on the small financial empire, as well as allowing enough surplus to imminently start several projects aimed to rebuild the torn world.
The Mass-Transit shuttle project his father had been working on before his murder had taken less then two weeks to get approval from every representative of the new legislative body. The fleet included a new set of entry/exit shuttles made from Gundamium that had a far longer lifespan then the ones currently in commission and coated with the same poly-carbonite enamel that had been used on the Gundams themselves but, of course, had that signature Oz look; his creativity extended only so far and designing Epyon had called upon the extent of it.
It would have taken even less time, however they had wanted to make a good public show of it and none of the representatives wanted to give up the PR opportunity of a life time – a photograph shaking hands with Great Oz Colonel on his first Earth-Space promotional tour after coming back from the dead a year after the war. Trieze had revoked the posthumous rank of General himself in deference to his late father, even if many felt he had more then earned it after commanding the Eve Battle.
Dressed in what he deemed a casual work suit and tie combination of black and silver (which many other men would reserve for only the most important of business meetings) Trieze headed for his car, the "Humm'Vee Gundam" – the closest to a refuge he had after the Mobile Suit ban had all the military machines disassembled.
Lady Une typically would drive Marimaya, his daughter, to the local school she was now attending on her way into work since it usually timed out so well. A few occasions Trieze had gone out of his way to take over the responsibility, but he settled on being there to pick her up at the end of the day whenever he wasn't traveling since when he came in early it usually led to him taking a long morning nap in his office with nothing to do.
He was one of the only people who could keep ahead of the mass amounts of paperwork that flooded the newly established bureaucratic system. Trieze was inwardly thankful when the wing that had previously contained his office in the renovated former Romefeller Headquarters had been assigned to a different department of the Preventors administration; he wasn't sure how much he had Lady Une to thank for that but certainly enjoyed the new view on the other side of the building much more.
He always felt better after he'd had a chance to slip into the driver's seat and put on his tinted retinal-interface glasses. Being able to connect up to the Z-PLCs processor almost allowed him to do a total cache dump of all the different threads that had built up in his mind. Even then, it wasn't quite the same as if it was properly hooked into a Mobile Suit's control systems no matter how he tweaked the set-up.
In his messages there was already an alert sent out for a debriefing within the hour, he'd be arriving just in time: Leave it to His Lady to ensure he was always on time despite his worst habits…
…Lady Une lowered the projector screen at the precise moment the hands of the clock moved to signal 11:00, and like clockwork Trieze Khushrenada entered the room and took his seat just as the lights went out and the lamp was turned on. It was a familiar dance between the two that tended to annoy any unfamiliar with his exact view on punctuality – Not being early had been the most defiant he could be with out reprimand under his Uncle's domination and he still hadn't shaken the habit…
"Our reconnaissance team has located a facility that could have been used by either the Alliance or Romefeller in the past and has since been abandoned. We figured this would be a good way to keep your field skills in shape even if we're not expecting to find very much there. There is still a possibility that it could have been used as weapons store, so each team is going to conduct a sweep of the building…"
Une continued on, but Trieze was distracted by something…
"Excuse me Lady… would you mind expanding the map area three or four frames?" Une stopped and gave a slight nod before turning to the monitor beside her and adjusting the zoom to include a wider field of view, then after a pause, continued her debriefing; carefully hiding her frequent glances towards Trieze who was fixated on the screen.
"…Now if everything is clear, are there any questions before we head out?" She waited a moment before adding, "You're Excellency? ...Mr. Trieze …Trieze?"
A minute later when Milliardo kicked the chair leg Trieze snapped to life again.
"Wh – No. No, I have no questions." The assembly of three ex-Gundam pilots as well as Milliardo, Noin and Sally were all staring at him despite the fact that he acted as though nothing had happened at all shuffling through the folder in front of him.
Using the extra attention he cleared his throat and added,
"Actually I would not mind joining you; it would speed up clearing the interior if I were to take over the outer sweep of the building with the forensics team. I would be more suited at finding whatever clues to be found there anyways."
Trieze Khushrenada was volunteering for a low level field sweep? None of the others were willing to openly point out the oddity at work, but the question 'what was he hiding?' circulated the room silently from face to face.
After checking out their weapons and ammunition they loaded onto a trio of choppers that were waiting on the landing pad outside and headed off to the site.
One Last Visit…from Hell…
Trieze took his time getting off the chopper and settling his suit, tie, hair and holster for his favored sidearm; the suppressed Glock 17 with tritium sights whose glow was visibleeven in theblackest room needing no light to recharge; as he headed towards the northern wall where the forensics team covering the outdoor areas was starting to set up for their scouring. The Preventors had followed the Colonial militia's example and used digitized portable displays in order to organize and coordinate date and Trieze was wearing his glasses in order to have a hands free set up since they weren't exclusively designed for just the Z-PLC system.
He patiently went through the motions coordinating the findings and filing them into categories to be reviewed later by whomever would be assigned as the investigating team. Himself, Heero, Noin and Milliardo were some of the few to have gained the distinction and responsibility of such case follow up.
Wu Fei hadn't wanted to be any more then a field agent and Trowa would come down to work with the Chinese pilot and Sally on special assignments which cropped up from time to time that needed a small, elite, coordinated team. World safety was the only thing more important to Trowa then his duties at the circus. Duo was also always moving back and forth between the colonies and Earth, sometimes bringing Hilde along for the ride. He had convinced Quatre, who of course had his hands tied with the Winner estate, to fund an official "metal waste" processing project which made Duo and Hilde Lord and Lady of quite a number of scrap yards throughout the Earth Sphere.
…It was as Trieze rounded the corner, moving ahead of the his team, that he suddenly felt like he was stepping into a dream – the pitch of the rivers roar reverberating off of the concrete building's outer wall coming into tune and actualizing the reality shift. He stood staring out at the chain link fence, topped with barbed wire, which ran right along the rapid rivers edge with a dense forest beyond. With great slowness he turned to regard, and then approach, the simple door that was exactly behind him from that point…
It opened easily, its lock had never been repaired and sure enough, looking to the left just inside the door the electronic mechanism had been smashed by a close grouping of three bullets.
In a daze, Trieze continued down the concrete hallway passing by the markings of where many other bullets had dug into the soft stone-like building material; he didn't even consciously know why he was going where he was going…
He didn't want to know why, he just put one foot in front of the other moving deeper into the darkness.
(so you don't get confused this is everyone else… Milliardo/Noin team, Duo/Heero team, Wu Fei/Sally team)
The groups sweeping the interior were shocked by what they found as they passed beyond the main entrance and into the main network of hallways on the first level – the stench of rotting death thick in the air.
Most of the rooms had been converted into holding cells, and it was obvious that while few had been occupied; few of those that had inhabited that hell hole had ever made it to daylight with their corpses still rotting in the chains that held them. Rats had been to feast on much of their flesh. Most had been torched assumedly in the process of abandoning the location.
Milliardo did his best to hold his own breath as he kept a reassuring hand on Noin's back as she vomited in a corner. It was all a little much for him as well and wasn't surprised when Duo came around the corner holding his flashlight high. Heero had probably rather the loud-mouth American descendent deal with the scene somewhere he didn't have to listen to it. Heero could ignore a lot, but it didn't change the fact that he was feeling the same way as his more vocal peer from L2 inside.
"Just SICK! This place is dead alright – I can't believe this stench! Heero's moved on to the lower floor, we found the main hall it seems, he figures we should all meet up there and try and figure out what exactly we want to do about this… place." He certainly looked like he was doing his best not to go green in the face himself.
"Right. Noin are you sure you don't want to go outside and help Trieze?"
She shook her head and followed Duo back the way he'd come with Milliardo trailing behind, at the ready to respond should their assessment about how safe the area was proved wrong.
It was indeed a main hall and the lights were still working in this section. It was complete with various contraptions of which many were still covered in the blood of the victims to the demonic play that transpired. The three moved around the large clear cylindrical tank, over a story tall that looked as though it had held water at one point, and went up the metal stairs to the luxuriously furnished office that overlooked the morbid stage.
Heero was standing before a wall mounted screen that was displaying the volume mute across its bottom superimposed over the horrific and bloody scene playing out in its background. Below the screen was a library of disks, all neatly contained, labeled and organized on shelves. Some held several names across the cover, others only a single name, and here and there would be a set of two or three sharing the same title…
…Trieze Khushrenada rounded the last corner – his senses numb to the Vicious stench in the air and flashlight unneeded for his eyes to see in the extremely dim lighting. He could hear the individual echo of each step he took off of every surface in the corridor, as well as the distant disturbances of the teams that were flushing through the building frightening the rats in front of them. He halted suddenly mid-step sensing he was about to go too far and stood at attention steeling his nerve to look and turn to his right.
He took a deep breath or two before he did so: The doorway hung open like a gaping black mouth, the all too familiar darkness that had consumed his very soul time and again reaching out.
He didn't need light or even eyes to see the room beyond; he knew it with every part of his body. His face having been slammed into its walls, his arms shackled to its ceiling, his knees scraped along the floor washed with his own blood and urine. It was the home he would never admit to knowing.
The flood of memories and sensations that were jerked from his subconscious were too much and caused a complete mental system error. He choked a moment before his eyes rolled back and his body was stricken with the shuttering pulses of a full seizure. He crumpled to the ground still twitching…
…The others debated the different options they had available as members of the Preventor Organization to handle with the gruesome find. As they waited for Wu Fei and Sally to arrive, Milliardo's eye was caught by the largest set of disks on the shelves. They were simply labeled with the number '13' and he had just switched the disk bearing the last hours of 3 unfortunate individuals that Heero had randomly selected for the first of the mystery set when they all simultaneously received a message alert. Noin was the fastest draw.
"Huh? From Trieze… just says: 'Zero'?" She looked puzzled at the others as they heard a shout from the other room setting them all in motion.
Milliardo was the only one who remained transfixed as the rest scrambled out… He watched a person all too familiar to him dragged up into position on the platform over the very tank now behind him outside the office…
…His feet were already tied together and the masked men bound his upper body and arms tightly with a heavy chain keeping both his hands drawn up to his neck before a noose was looped around it, tightened and the whole bundle unceremoniously dumped off the edge to splash down and sink under the water. Bubbles could be seen rushing up to the surface as prisoner's dark form slowly started to thrash under the water before he was hoisted up into the air. The brief moment from when his head cleared the surface till he was lifted fully from the water was the only break there was between a state of drowning and that of slow strangulation.
The hands of his old friend tightly gripping the rope of the noose, desperate to keep the pressure from collapsing his fragile windpipe, before being plummeted back down to be swallowed by the water once more…
…the time stamp put the recording perhaps only a week after Trieze had assumed command of Oz – the same night Zechs had achieved the fame of being the fastest ACE Oz pilot to date… (ch7BTRw)
Sally had rounded the corner just in time for her flashlight beam to fall on Trieze Khushrenada as he collapsed to the floor outside the doorway to one of the cells – her device's message alert going off almost simultaneously.
The ex-Oz Colonel had slipped into unconsciousness by the time she reached him. It was her cry that the others came running to; sound carried easily through the corridors – Wu Fei being one of the first to arrive but holding back a considerable distance sensing it was nothing he could stab at.
She quickly checked him over for injuries and removed his glasses. They were all aware of his "talents" by now but it still didn't help her to determine the problem when the pupils on his back-rolled eyes were indeed constricted to nothing when she pealed back the lids to gain a diagnosis.
The group from the main office finally reached the scene and Noin rushed forwards and slid to a knee next to the two.
"What happened to him!"
Sally shone her own flashlight into the room Trieze had been standing outside…
It showed the dried bloody wear of an occupant but lacked a lump of rags, bones and decomposing burnt flesh. The pieces, from the way he had collapsed to tending to the man's health two years ago in the Sank Kingdom, were slowly sketching into a theory even if she had yet to gather any evidence to back it up.
"We need to get him out of here right now and back to the Headquarters, Where's Zechs?"
No matter how much some people KNEW his name was in fact Milliardo, they couldn't get over identifying the tall blond with his ACE Pilot name. Noin, who had taken a hold of Trieze's hand, looked back down the hallway to realize her partner hadn't followed them.
"I….?"
Sally hardly about to wait, already was radioing into one of the choppers to be ready for lift off.
"Wu Fei! See that this cell gets swept and analyzed FIRST! I don't care if you have to deliver the samples to the lab yourself, I want them processing in the hour!" With Noin's help, they each took an arm over their shoulders, and rushed Trieze's unconscious form outside.
Back in the main office, Milliardo finally brought himself to turn off the TV and put the disk away hearing the crackle of Sally's commanding voice over the radio. He removed a large sized evidence bag from his back pocket and took the entire set of disks bearing the '13' mark, before heading out after Sally and Noin to accompany his old friend back home. Heero, Wu Fei and Duo were remaining behind with the rest of the Preventor team to finish cataloging the building before they could begin clean-up.
("It is about Fear, and what that does to the mind. Even my fears for you put me in a position where I might not have opened my mind to all the possible solutions. To overcome fear and be able to simply endure the suffering that others inflict…" he gave a heavy sigh, "…perhaps, despite the trials you have had to face so far, you now truly understand the strength that is required to be a Pacifist.
I know that despite all my talents: it is something I will never be able to do." ~ Trieze G. Khushrenada XIII Ch4)
Trieze had no idea when it was or what had happened to land him in what looked like the Preventors Medical wing. He knew it was bad when Lady Une was there by his side and both Noin andMilliardo were in the room with Sally herself, the head of the medical department, furiously working at the computer next to his monitoring station.
"Was I shot?" He rasped out.
His throat was dry and had a terrible taste in it he could only describe as "road kill", he couldn't feel any excessive pain from a wound but the bright lights were quickly giving him a headache. Lady Une took hold of his hand and squeezed hard, the look of fear and worry on her face didn't help to answer his question, nor did the fact that neither Milliardo nor Noin were willing to volunteer an answer. Sally finished with a conservative flourish and then got up to talk to Trieze finally.
"No, you were not shot. However, I do need you to do me a favor and try not to panic. You're a very calm individual so I'm going to try to be as direct as possible. I do need you to answer a few questions and tell me exactly what you can remember about today. Before that I just need to be sure, can you tell me what your name is?"
Trieze swallowed hard and did his best to adhere to her previous request to not to let the maelstrom of whirling thoughts rise up to drown his judgment. It's never good when people have to start by asking if you remember your own name.
"My name is Trieze Godrick Khushrenada the Thirteenth – Son of Sir Godrick Trieze Khushrenada the Eighth and Marquis Alicia Wallace von Scot."
Doctors develop a strange sense of humor many times to deal with situations that could cause extreme emotional damage in the long term. Sally couldn't help the inward smile at the aristocratic response that was that bit more thorough then the predictable first and last with the occasional prized middle or rank added on. From his confidence she was sure he could go on, following either bloodline back as reasonably far as anyone would expect of someone who had an ancestral focused upbringing.
A few more questions about the people in the room and the general scheme of recent history, including his daughter, checked out that his long term memory had been unaffected.
Trieze stalled out completely when he got to the point in his morning when he had sat down for the debriefing and Sally was quick to distract him as soon she saw his eyes starting to slip out of the normal spectrum of typical human anatomy. She had Lady Une switch off the lights, not only to give herself room as the woman was hovering protectively over her fiancé, but also so that she could pull out a flashlight to take a better look at the phenomenon.
"…can you leave them off?" he dared to ask when Sally finished and clicked the flashlight off.
"Are you able to see in dim lighting with your eyes in this state?" Trieze was taken aback by how skeptical she was. He hardly looked into the fact that the pupil would typically expand to allow enough light in to see under low light conditions, not contract.
"Yes, I always can see very well in dim environments…" he couldn't help glance at Noin and Milliardo before hesitantly adding, "I… try to avoid bright lighting as much as I can since, after a while, it can get too intense…"
Sally had picked up on the cue,
"Noin, Zechs… Could you wait out in the hallway," then, she turned back to Trieze, "It is up to you if you'd like anyone in here – you are a patient after all so the same rules apply as at any hospital."
Even Trieze knew full well that no one wouldever ask Lady Une to leave his side lest the Lt. Colonel reemerge and strike them down where they stood,
"Now, Please Trieze, the more you can tell me the more we can help you… are there any other things that get 'too intense' for you?"
Trieze was grateful for Une's hand holding his own, he couldn't meet Sally's eye as he named the best list he could.
"Watching large unorganized crowds of people… Walking barefoot on grass, sand and sometimes carpeting, even seeing someone pouring sand or small grains of anything is uncomfortable at times… Heavy rain, showers can be pretty unbearable and crickets are terrible…" He did look up at Sally frowning, "Why though? What happened to me this morning?"
Sally took a deep sigh and glanced up to check how Une was doing with all this, the other woman's face gave away nothing. She decided she might as well get down to it since she had promised to be direct.
"What you don't seem to be able to recall is that after you came into work this morning, there was a debriefing session for doing a weapons sweep at a recently unearthed facility. You asked Lady Une to widen the map frame; can you remember why you did that?"
Sally had already gone over much of the evidence since she had given Trieze an aid to keep him unconscious; despite Lady Une's skepticism that it was necessary; until they were ready to give him what answers they could. During that time she had sworn Wu Fei and Milliardo to secrecy – the only two other then Heero who were allowed to directly handle the evidence concerning the matter now that the entire operation had come under the jurisdiction of personal confidentiality ethics as soon as the DNA results from the cell had come back positive.
His answer was not unexpected as he furrowed his brow pushing into the hazy place his mind didn't want to go near.
"By the roadway… that is where she found me... the range was a day's walk from the facility." (((^_^ Oh the great circle… not quite back to the beginning yet though!)))
"That's why you asked to come along, right?" Trieze looked more and more lost as they continued, his still constricted eyes going vacant.
"No…? I… I do not remember that being one of the reasons… I just wanted to get some fresh air, not much to do inside."
"So is that why you wanted to be in charge of the exterior sweep?" He turned to stare at Sally Po. It was obvious that it was difficult for him to come to grips with the fact that he was still drawing a blank when he tried to think of the details of the field mission.
"I honestly do not know. Please, what happened to bring me here?" Sally carefully chose her words unknowing of how the man was going to take the news she had for him,
"You wandered off from the exterior sweep team and entered the building through a broken back door. Outside of one of the holding cells you went into a seizure and then unconscious."
Trieze gave no reaction at all.
"You think it was caused by being in that place." Sally wished she didn't have to answer that.
"I'm afraid not, Colonel. While it's obvious the trauma you suffered there might have triggered it early," It was a very heavy sigh, "something like this has been building for some time. It might have only been a matter of a few weeks or even just days before something like this happened on its own. I've done a scan and double checked it as well, even unconscious your mind is running far hotter then it should. It doesn't even compare to the scan histories I had sent over from the other two test pilots who have been receiving full time psychiatric care since the incident. The fluctuating threshold levels for your neural-net are unlike anything that's ever been recorded. A human brain isn't made to handle that kind of constant heavy activity. Most likely the probability and frequency of the episodes are only going to increase each time one occurs. There are already early warning signs that such a breakdown is slowly building up again."
Trieze hated it every time someone had to point out that he wasn't up to 'human' standards anymore. The image of his self made of wires and metal with no blood left to bleed was a nightmare that visited him on numerous occasions. Sally turned and picked up his chart containing much of the information she'd been compiling since they'd returned to the Headquarters and continued,
"Heero was able to dig from the Lords of Plague Database some of the old notes on the system you tested, the Zero Pilot Lag Control. He's still working to find more specific details about its design and especially whatever he can on the pre-conditioning drug that was used during the first test. Even without that information it's clear the system was designed as a military theorywithout any concern for how it would affect the lifestyle of a Pilot outside the Mobile Suit. For example the constriction of your eyes, as a symptom by itself if it continues to go untreated could lead to blindness in just a few more years. Considering how crucial the retinal interface is for your mind to be able to link up with the system and function properly…I doubt I have to explain what that experience would be like for you."
The thought of that smothering blackness starving his mind permanently of so many of the details it fed upon caused Trieze's shoulders to shake and shutter, jaw clenched, his breaths stunted gasps. Lady Une was the only person in the world that could recognize the invisible tears for what they were and responded imminently pulling Trieze's head to her chest; holding him there protecting his face from view till the dry, silent sobs eased into deep even breaths.
Sally couldn't help but add the lack of tear production down to her list of ailments to be addressed while Noin and Milliardo exchanged glances in the hallway. They had been working with Sally and were aware of parts of the situation but could only imagine what was being said in the room beyond the closed door. Trieze finally drew back from Lady Une's embrace composed once more,
"How could these things even be treated?" Sally took a deep breath, glad that he was already looking for the positives.
"We are going to have to start by doing an actual study of what is going on neurologically and how that gets affected when your actively connected to the system. There are medications that have very few side effects and would keep your eyes properly dilated. You could start taking them right away; with caution of course since it seems to be a reactive change to the lowering of threshold levels in your neurons. Hopefully we can figure out a way to alter the current pattern or re-stabilize the neurochemistry. If not we might have to fall back on treating the attacks with the same tactics for epileptics prone to grand-mal seizures. I from what I've seen so far it doesn't seem like it would need anything as drastic as surgery but at that point therapies such as Electro-shock –"
The Doctor was cut short.
Her patient was more then halfway down the hallway before Milliardo caught up to him with his longer stride and tackled him to the ground. He was struggling violently to get out from under the Ex-ACE Pilot, who couldn't help relate it to the last time he'd had to drag Trieze kicking and screaming into a hospital bed. At least, Trieze would have been kicking and screaming that time if he hadn't already lost a great deal of blood.
"NO! NOT AGAIN! GET OFF! NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED! IT'S ALWAYS BEEN YOUR FAULT! LET ME GO YOU FUCKING PACIFIST!"
Trieze's completely uncharacteristic enraged screams quickly drew out an audience. Milliardo held onto the thrashing man with everything he had in him – By those words he knew exactly what Trieze fully had in mind at the moment.
Lady Une's shriek of "NO!" was all the warning the desperate man had before he felt the sting of Sally Po's needle delivering the dose of tranquilizer. Milliardo was reluctant to accept that the drugs had actually knocked the man out even if his whimpers of "It's not fair" ceased. He only backed off, keeping himself between Trieze and the exit, when Une rushed over to drop protectively over Trieze.
They all knew they were in trouble when she got up and turned on Sally, every trace of "Saint Une" evaporated from her personage.
"What the HELL do you think your trying to do!"
The audience (many ex-Oz re-employed) quickly vacated the hallway, afraid of any repercussions of staying long enough to be recognized later. Sally had never been a member of Oz and had quite a strong personality her self, but it was easy to recognize there was nothing to be gained trying to make a stand against the woman's wrath.
"I had no idea he would react so strongly to the news, believe me Une, I only want to be able to help."
"With more drugs and shock therapy?"
"We need to keep an open mind, if there is any other way I'm sure it will be a much better option. The level of currant it takes to artificially induce a seizure is no where near enough to cause pain to a patient and the life-style improvement for someone with epilepsy is enormous."
"He is NOT suffering from epilepsy!" Sally knew better then to try and argue with Une about the specifics of epilepsy's definition.
"Then please, just help us to find out what he IS suffering from? I'm sure we should probably get him back to a bed and keep him restrained for his own protection."
"NO!" The syllable cracked in her throat and Une swallowed hard, "He will not be kept. I'm taking him home, you can see to him there. I will not stand to see him treated like that again."
Sally suddenly understood what she had been overlooking the whole time in her attempts to deal with the situation: the secret lives of the Oz high commanders.
She bit her lower lip looking down as Lady Une attempted to throw Trieze's arm over her shoulder to carry him by herself. When she was stopped by Milliardo the two had a momentary stand off; unaware which side he would support.
"Une… Midi, it would be foolish to deal with this all on your own. You already have a lot more responsibilities to take care of these days then you used to. You know there are other things that need your attention right at this moment" She was about to argue with him but was cut short. "Someone is going to have to stay with him at all times until we find that better solution and I know how to drive the HVG. Noin, can you grab a stretcher out of there?" He turned his attention back to Une after he saw Noin nod and duck into one of the rooms, "I'm sure we can work out a schedule and make sure his Excellency is looked after."
Lt Colonel Une was finally defeated and helped the two get Trieze onto the stretcher before walking out with them to see him off before she went to her office to try and get the rest of the work she had to do that day done early.
She had already called up Susan, the mother of one of Marimaya's friends from school, and explained that there was an emergency going on that meant she wasn't sure if either Trieze or her self were going to be able to leave work. She had asked if Susan could do them the huge favor of letting the girl stay at their house after school, possibly even sleepover. Having no idea what the man would want his daughter to know about what was going on, she had merely told Susan to reassure Mari that everything was under control and not to worry about it too much.
She wished she felt that confident now.
Newfound Freedom in Peace…?
Trieze woke feeling very groggy and he wasn't surprised to see Lady Une lying next to him on the bed in the dim room.
"Am I going to be late for anything?"
"No." She wanted to cry so badly right then, it was as if he hadn't even realized the war was over, "Trieze… Milliardo and Sally Po are outside right now… they want to talk to you again."
He turned to her with his eyes wide.
"That was not …a nightmare?"
Une moved forwards and embraced him with her whole body wrapping one leg across his and kissed across his face almost like she was begging.
"It's going to be ok – I will not let them do anything to you unless you wish it. …But if they're willing to try and find a way you can be happy, what's the harm in letting them try? …for Mari?"
He held her steady with a light hand against the side of her face and kissed her back, settling on his side to face her. She could feel him start to cry again as he buried his face under the nape of her neck wrapping his arms around her; He was more then aware that he could no longer afford to act carelessly…or selfishly. She rested her cheek against his soft ginger hair a few moments before he pulled away to stare questioningly into her chocolate brown eyes,
"Where is she?"
"At her friend's house, Danielle – Susan still feels like she owes you a lot for helping with the restraining order for her ex-husband. I told her there were some emergency issues at work… I didn't want to worry her too much so I never said anything about you… …getting sick…"
Trieze was calming as the groggy feeling of the drugs began to wear off.
"Then…" He searched her face drawing courage from the devotion written across it, "…lets see what they can find. I suppose I should call Mari before it gets too late, if it isn't already that is. You are right we should not worry her. I can guess that I will have more then enough free time to sit down and explain things to her now..."
Lady Une looked down towards their feet.
"Sally has had you suspended on medical concerns." Trieze lifted her chin up and kissed her lips once more.
It was easier to feel calmer himself being able to focus on reassuring his lady, his love, it had always been that way. It was one of the few reasons he had even been able to bear the nearly three years Dermail's men had regularly, sometimes on a whim, taken him away for 'treatment'.
Une hadn't said a word about the hidden sound proof room with a 5' diamater tunnel cut deep back into one wall when the building had been renovated into the Preventor's Headquarters feeling it was better if it was never found. Even now she was still cursing herself for having let Trieze go out on the field assignment. Even though she had been completely unaware of the 'off site' location prior to today and hardly would have thought to look for it, Lady Une was convinced that some how she should have known – that this might have been avoided even if all evidence said otherwise.
Trieze stroked his fingers through her long soft hair,
"That is fine. Now, it would be rude to keep them waiting much longer…" Trieze gently pushed Une's shoulder down and slid over her to stare down into her eyes. "…unless you were thinking of keeping them waiting much longer."
He of course had that grin on his face she knew too well. The man had certainly come around alright. Une gave him the typical glare she reserved for when he was being inappropriate before wriggling out from under him.
"I'll send them in."
She went to the door and called the two in from the hallway after turning on a floor lamp to brighten the room to a comfortable level for all parties. Trieze assumed a dignified position sitting up with his back propped up against the pile of pillows at the head of the bed.
"Let me guess," Milliardo was the first to speak with a bemused smirk on his face, "You're absolutely not, in any way, going to express your appreciation for our concern?"
Trieze Khushrenada closed his eyes and pretended as if it were very difficult for him to admit,
"You are wrong, actually. I am very grateful for your swift action in my moment of panic," He opened his eyes to look slyly at his old friend, "…This time that is."
Milliardo could only cross his arms over his chest, looked down shaking his head and chuckling silently. A Khushrenada never backed down once they had made up their mind on something. Trieze did look to Sally Po with a much more serious expression.
"I am very sorry for running out on you. It was most uncouth, you must forgive me." Trieze brought his right arm across his chest and bowed forwards to seal the apology.
Sally hesitantly stepped forwards, careful not to alarm Lady Une.
"It's quite alright; I understand that this kind of news can be very difficult to deal with. I want to assure you that I'm investigating every possible solution and the ones I outlined before…" She couldn't help glancing at Une, "Are based on solely treating the symptoms. We are going to do our very best to hold that as a last resort. Even then we will not take any action without your permission, but I can not revoke your suspension until you can be cleared as 100% fit for duty. There are laws to be followed after all."
Trieze gave a heavy sigh,
"What kind of testing would be necessary for you to ascertain a proper treatment?"
Sally moved closer and sat lightly on the corner of his bed,
"Well… I'm sure that much of it will be very tedious for you at worst. We are going to have to do a number of cognitive functioning tests along with monitoring neural activity, but you might even enjoy some of it. We will need to test some of your limits after all and in order to get the most scientifically accurate results I have already put in the request to re-build a Mobile Suit cockpit for medical purposes…"
Trieze Godrick Khushrenada's eyes lit up like a boy being told that this year they would be getting presents for Christmas AND the eight days of Hanukkah!
Milliardo was chuckling again – he had told Sally she should make sure to mention that part and wished he had a camera to treasure the look on his face forever. It wasn't going to be that hard to convince the ex-Oz Colonel to cooperate now.