A few things are explained.
Enjoy!
~*~ chapter 4
**~*~**
A soldier being led by two guards calmly entered the base.
Aqua eyes darted around quickly, and memorized the placement of watch posts and buildings.
Soon the guards halt the soldier, and another, higher ranking, officer walked up to them from the main building. Dirty blonde hair that was a bit on the shaggy side framed a tan face, and went perfectly with big light brown eyes that held in a silent humor. He looked rather young to be a sergeant, but he also looked strong the way his uniform hung on his broad frame.
When he stopped in front of the three that had just entered, the soldier that had been escorted into the base stood at attention, and saluted. "Private Quatre Winters reporting for duty, sir." he said calmly.
The Sergeant saluted back, and, with a bright smile, held out his hand in greeting to the new soldier. "Hello, Quatre. Welcome to my lovely little base. I must admit that it's nothing much to see on the outside, but things will get more interesting once I've given you the tour." he laughed in a good natured tone.
Quatre smiled back at him and took the offered hand. "I'm sure it will, sir."
"Oh! Where are my manners? My name is Carlton Hews. I'm not exactly big on the whole 'sir' thing, so please call me Carlton." he insisted as he let out another deep laugh. "Now come along, and let me show you around the place."
~*~*~*~
It has been five days since the blonde soldier's arrival, and he already knew the entire layout of the building, thanks to Carlton's tour, and the questions he had been answering.
Since the two met, they began to chat, and talk, and soon they found out that they had quite a bit in common. Quatre found himself growing to like the easy going sergeant the more time he spent with him.
At the moment, they were sitting in the mess hall, looking at the weird concoction that the cook called food. Carlton was occasionally making comments about other soldiers, or the state of the base, and the blonde would usually laugh and agree in return.
But in the back of Quatre's mind, he kept having nagging thoughts of what he was doing, and how he was using the polite soldier to get what he needed.
He shoved those thoughts aside, and tried to listen to what the man was saying to him.
"I know you must be thinking how terrible the food is here, but you'll get used to it after a while." Carlton joked as he poked at the food on the tray in front of him. "Although, I'm not sure I'm used to it." His brown eyes looked around, and he leaned over the table and whispered. "I swear I saw the cook chasing a dog earlier today with a butcher knife."
Quatre had been taking a sip of his glass of water, but after he heard that his eyes grew big and he went into a spit take. "What?!" he coughed out laughing.
Carlton gave him a big grin. "Just tellin' you what I saw."
After wiping off his mouth, Quatre swatted at him with his free hand. "Oh be serious!"
The sergeant dodged the hand easily. "I am! Why do you think they call 'em hot dogs? And trust me, you do not want to know what part of the dog they use!" he cackled out in amusement.
His mouth dropped in disgust. "That is nasty! You are awful, Carlton! If you're not careful, you'll make the cook mad at you... Again." Quatre added with a smirk.
The larger man shrugged. "Oh well. Maybe if I complain enough, the cook will get the hint."
"Good luck with that ever happening!" Quatre laughed out.
Carlton grinned again, and went back to playing with his food. "Quatre, do you mind if I ask you a question?" he asked in a more subdued tone.
He Noticed the change, so the smaller soldier looked back at him curiously. "Sure, go ahead."
"What did you do before the war? I know you're only fifteen, but I was just curious if you had anything that you left behind." Carlton asked, actually being serious for once.
Quatre was a little surprised at the question, but he was able to come up with and answer. "Well, I was a student... Going to private tutors, and those kind of things. I guess I miss that a little. I did look forward to some of my classes..... I have a big family, mostly sisters, but I've never been able to visit them that much, and I've practically forgotten what half of them look like since they're all so much older than me... I know that doesn't sound good, but it's just the way things happened. They were all grown up and half of them were married by the time I came around... So I really grew up alone..." Quatre trailed off. He now realized the old dull pain that used to have a hold of him when he was young.
Carlton's brown eyes looked on thoughtfully at Quatre, who was obviously remembering his past. "Must have been tough on you... Not having anyone to really care for you..." he said softly. He slowly placed a hand on top of the younger boy's pale one on the table.
Quatre blinked out of his thoughts, and looked down at the tanned hand on his. He looked back up and smiled gently. "At times, yes, but I got through it. Now I have a few friends scattered about, and they care about me.... In their own unusual ways." the blonde chuckled. "Anyway, what about you? Do you have any family out there somewhere?" he asked curiously.
"Yeah..." Carlton got a small grin on his face. "I have two younger brothers, and an older sister out there. They live on the L3 colony."
Aqua eyes lit up. "I have a good friend that's from there. I met him a little after I became a soldier.... Although he tried to kill me when we first met, we got to know each other, and he's one of my best friends now." he added with a laugh.
The sergeant blinked. "He tried to kill you, and you still wanted to be friends with him?"
He laughed again, but the blonde tried to explain. "It was a big misunderstanding. He didn't know who I was at first, so instantly pegged me as an enemy. It took me a while, but I was able to convince him that we shouldn't be fighting."
"Huh, you must be a fast talker. I don't know many who can turn a guy who was trying to kill 'em into a friend." Carlton said jokingly.
Quatre smirked at that. "I have a habit of doing that. You wouldn't believe how many times I've been able to turn a situation from someone's about to blow my head off, to us having tea in the library." he replied honestly.
Again Carlton blinked. "Wow... Fast talker, and a charmer. I like that." He grinned brightly.
The blonde smiled back at him fondly. ~Huh, he's so much like Duo...~ he mused to himself.
Suddenly, the sergeant stood up and picked up his tray. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm gonna get rid of this lame excuse for food before I find out what's really in it."
Quatre found himself laughing at the comment, and stood as well. "Well, with all of your talk, I didn't eat any of it anyway. Maybe we could get a pizza sneaked in, or some Chinese food." he suggested. He knew that it wouldn't be that difficult.
"I like the way you think, Quatre!" Carlton laughed, and slung and arm over his thin shoulders. "Come on, I know a phone we can use, and where we could pick it up."
~*~*~*~
Hunched over a very large piece of, very expensive looking, equipment, Quatre carefully studied every detail. It was a new kind of power generator that took 80% less fuel to power, but had an output almost three times that a normal generator could produce. It was an incredible piece of modern technology....
~To bad I'm going to have to destroy it. Something like this could really help out our side.... Hm... Maybe I can look for the plans and download them to disk... Then I could..~
"Quatre! Whatcha doing in this musty old place staring at that clunky thing?" Carlton's voice called out, soon followed by a firm slap on the back.
"Ooof!..." Quatre coughed in surprise, then turned to him. "Oh, just looking around, trying to figure out how half of this stuff works." he covered quickly.
Carlton looked at all of the excessively big machinery in the large warehouse, then back to the blonde. "Hn, you're tellin' me. With all these damn buttons and switches on all of this shit, you hafta have and instruction manual on how to use the instruction manual."
The blonde smiled at that. "Really... So what's up? Did you come looking for me or something?" he asked curiously.
The man grinned. "Sure did. I wanted you to join me and a few of the boys for a friendly little card game." he explained.
Quatre thought about it, and shrugged. "Sure, why not. I'm a little rusty on card games, though. I'm more into chess myself."
That got Carlton's attention. "Really? Well, I'll be a monkey's second cousin... You know I've been looking around for over a year for anyone who even remotely knows how to play chess! Hell, my chess set in my quarters practically has an inch thick layer of dust on it!" he exclaimed, and made a mental note to clean it.
"Oh my, that's not good." Quatre giggled out. "Well, I'm sure, when we have the spare time, we could play a few games if you like." he offered politely.
"Oh, I insist! I may be a big sarcastic jackass most of the time, but even I appreciate a little culture now and then." Carlton stated. He then moved to the blonde's side and hooked his arm. "Come on. First I'll introduce you to the guys, then we'll clean them out of everything they have!" he laughed out as he led Quatre away.
Quatre laughed as well, and smiled brightly. "Sounds fun. Lead the way."
~*~*~*~
As they sat around at a large desk, Quatre and Calrton were casually studying the chess board placed in the center of the desk. The way the game had played out, they matched each other's moves precisely, and a stalemate was in the process of being an option. So now they were glancing at every piece on the board, and calculated any move that would increase their odds of winning.
Neither were in a particular hurry to make a move though.
After glaring at his white chess pieces for nearly ten minutes, Carlton sighed and sat back in his over stuffed desk chair. "Well, this is very odd... I've never had this happen before." He looked away from the board, and focused his attention on the blonde in front of him. "So what do you think?" he asked lightly.
As he sat in a smaller chair, but still with perfect posture, Quatre was looking at his remaining black pieces on the board with a thoughtful gaze. "This has turned out most interesting... I've been in stalemate before, but nothing like this.. The pieces are so close within a position that they could move in, but only one space is stopping them... Quite strange....." He gave a small frown of concentration.
The sergeant couldn't help but smile at the determined look on his face. "Well, now I can really tell that you had private tutors.... That kind of eloquent wording would never suit that of a soldier of the lower class." he joked.
But Quatre's frown deepened when he heard that. "Well, I wouldn't go as far as saying that they actually taught me anything...." he stated in a lower tone. "Hn, more like they shoved it down my throat." the blonde grumbled as he glared at his black queen, who was in Carlton's possession.
His tone caught Carlton's interest. "Oh? Was it really that bad?" he questioned curiously.
"Bad is and understatement...." the blonde boy grunted in reply. "My entire life was built solely on the purpose that I would someday take over my father's business, and run it the exact way he did... That didn't quite turn out the way it should have seeing's how I'm now a soldier rather than a businessman. I hate business..." His fists clenched tightly as he thought of all the countless insults and ridicule of his past.
Carlton saw the tension clearly, and was surprised by it. "I see.... Well, maybe it's best to just leave things in the past, and not dwell on it." the sergeant suggested lightly.
Quatre blinked for a moment, then sighed deeply. "Yes... Best not to dwell on it." When he focused his attention back to board, he noticed something that neither himself nor Carlton saw before. With a slight smile, he moves his bishop three spaces up.
As he watched his move, Carlton grinned. "Quatre, I think you're slipping." He then took his white queen and captured the black bishop.
The blonde's smile grew wider. "Am I?" He then moved his hand to a black pawn, that was position two spaces behind the white king, up one space.
It was on Carlton's starting line.
Still smiling at Carlton, Quatre delicately pointed to the black queen that was in the sergeant's hand. "I would like that back now." he stated politely.
Shocked at the sudden play, Carlton slowly replaced the pawn with the queen.
Once he did, Quatre smiled brightly. "Checkmate."
When he looked at all of his pieces, Carlton saw that he had absolutely no where to move. With a deep sigh, he took a finger and knocked over his king. "You win, Quatre...." He then reached out over the desk. "Good game."
Quatre took the strong dark hand in his thin pale one. "Yes it was."
~*~*~*~
"You've got to be kidding! And here I thought I was the only one who liked that all that ancient history!" Carlton exclaimed happily as he sat down his book on his bed.
The blonde was sitting in a chair across the room, and chuckled his response. "I was beginning to think the same thing. No one seems to realize that those events of the past shaped our future into what it is today. I find it very fascinating myself." he stated, quite happy at what he was hearing.
And Carlton was very pleased as well. "I swear, Quatre, you must be like my long lost brother or something! I loved studying war history of the past. I haven't had much opportunity to recently, but I sometimes get the chance. Oh, and I have a little something that might interest you..." he trailed off to add to the suspense.
And the blonde boy was hooked. "And that would be?..."
He grinned wide, and placed his hands behind his head. "There is a training facility, hidden to the world, underground somewhere in these mountains. It was originally designed to have the soldiers train to think quick on their feet.... Do you know of the labyrinth from ancient times in Greek mythology?" the sergeant asked to build up on the boy's curiosity.
Quatre nodded. "Of course. Mythology was my second best subject to war history."
"Quatre, I think I love you!" Carlton laughed. "But seriously, an almost exact replica of that maze has been built in that underground facility. Some say it was built by Treize himself, but no one knows for sure. Anyway, in certain places there are questions that lead to a door that will set you on the right track to the center of the maze. One answer could be right, or two, and sometimes all three are wrong. Pick the wrong door and something happens that'll scare the shit out of the soldiers, then they have to try again later. Usually the questions pertain to mobile suits, or modern battle tactics, but sometimes, just to throw them off, I'll put war history in place of the usual questions. No one has made it all the way through, not even me." he finished, curious at how he would react.
Quatre was silent for a moment, but then he smiled brightly. "That is very interesting.... Now you've got me curious. I wouldn't mind taking a crack at it sometime." he chuckled. Then his mind briefly mused over how he would like to throw a certain Chinese ass in the maze and let him fend for himself.
The thought alone brought a grin to his pale face.
Carlton raised a brow at the evil grin on his friend's face. "Quatre? What's got you grinning like the preverbal cat with a catnip mouse?" he asked curiously.
He blinked out of his musing state, Quatre blushed lightly, and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Oh, just thinking of a few people I'd like to toss in there to see how they would fare." he grinned sheepishly.
"I see... Well, I've actually done that a few times, and usually they act like total dumb asses. Can't even get past the first question."
That made the blonde boy smirk. ~He couldn't even read the first question...~
Quatre directed his attention back to the sergeant when he began to speak again.
"If you would like, Quatre, I could set up a session for you at the labyrinth.... Just for fun, of course." he added lightly.
"Of course. I would like that." he agreed with a smile.
Carlton then suddenly stood up. "Alrighty! I'll go set you up a date right now. I doubt many soldiers will protest to you being placed before them. They usually hate the labyrinth sessions anyway." he told him as he moves for the door.
Quatre soon followed him. "I can't imagine why." the private commented lightly.
The sergeant laughed, and glanced back at him. "Neither can I."
~*~*~*~
As he stared wide eyed at the computer screen, Quatre was at a loss for words. "They... They can't be serious...." Reading over the file once more only pounded the truth further into his mind. "They want me to carry out the base's destruction tonight?! But I've only been here a few weeks! I thought they wanted me to find out their plans and strategies..... But all they wanted was an inside destroy mission...." he trailed off.
Quatre didn't know what to do.
His mind went over the past few weeks, and his stomach turned in knots. "What can I do?... I befriended Carlton, and now I have to destroy all that he's worked for, and probably take his life in the process...." Tears came to his eyes when he thought of how trusting the sergeant had been to him.
His eyes then flickered to a thick leather bound book that was placed on his bed. It was a rare book that covered every single battle that has ever happened in the past history of man kind. It was Carlton's only copy, and he had given it to Quatre as a token of their new friendship.
The mere sight of the book made him feel sick, so he turned his gaze away harshly. "Why?... Why do I have to do this? Carlton is my friend! I can't kill him!!" Quatre cried out in frustration.
Trough his tears, his saw the blue tinted glow of the laptop screen, and it caused his fists to clench in anger. "You people are always destroying innocent lives... Damnit, why can't it just end now!?!" He let out a loud growl of frustration. The blonde boy grabbed the laptop, and threw it across the room with all of his strength.
He then watched as it collided with the wall and practically shattered into a million pieces.
Unable to take it anymore, Quatre slumped down to the floor and cried softly in misery. "Allah... Why must so many good people die for this war?..." Reddened aqua eyes then look back at the book on his bed, and something clicked in his head.
"I can warn him.... I can tell him the truth, and warn him before it's too late...." Now with a new energy, Quatre jumped to his feet and pounced on the desk chair. Quickly, after he took out a pen and paper from the desk, he began to pour his heart out on the paper.
It took everything for Quatre to keep his tears in check so they wouldn't spill out onto the paper.
It didn't take very long for him to finish it as best he could, but to the blonde it seemed like forever just to write one simple word. Soon he signed his name on the bottom, and folded it neatly. Taking out a piece of black ribbon that he had found a few days ago, he carefully took the book off his bed and gently tied the letter to the book. Once done, Quatre looked at what he did, and didn't know whether to feel good, or horrible about himself.
Unable to find an answer to his own silent questions, Quatre sighed deeply, and stood, book in hand. He wiped at his eyes quickly with the sleeve of his uniform jacket, then Quatre made his way for the door. He took one last glance at the room he had been staying in, the nice quarters that Carlton had gotten for him. His thoughts then replayed his time here, and more tears threatened to make themselves known. When he tried to suck it up as best he could, Quatre opened the door and left the room.
As he left, he whispered something to the air.
"Carlton... Please forgive me..."
**~*~**
Eyes slowly cracked open, and Quatre hissed in pain as bright lights practically seared into them.
But his poor eyes were nothing to him when he felt a sharp burning in his chest. When he coughed, the pain tripled, and racked through his body.
The blonde was beyond confused, but everything made sense when he found himself strapped to a chair in a barren white room. The only things in the room besides himself was two mirrors that were on each of the walls to his sides.
And when he looked up, his aqua eyes caught sight of light brown.
"Carlton..." he mumbled out.
The man gave a sharp angered glare to the blonde. "Hello Quatre... We have a lot of things to discuss, don't we?" he asked in a low growl.
Quatre bowed his head, and felt a tear roll down his cheek.
"Yes... Yes we do..."
~*~ TBC
Uh oh...
Later
Enjoy!
~*~ chapter 4
**~*~**
A soldier being led by two guards calmly entered the base.
Aqua eyes darted around quickly, and memorized the placement of watch posts and buildings.
Soon the guards halt the soldier, and another, higher ranking, officer walked up to them from the main building. Dirty blonde hair that was a bit on the shaggy side framed a tan face, and went perfectly with big light brown eyes that held in a silent humor. He looked rather young to be a sergeant, but he also looked strong the way his uniform hung on his broad frame.
When he stopped in front of the three that had just entered, the soldier that had been escorted into the base stood at attention, and saluted. "Private Quatre Winters reporting for duty, sir." he said calmly.
The Sergeant saluted back, and, with a bright smile, held out his hand in greeting to the new soldier. "Hello, Quatre. Welcome to my lovely little base. I must admit that it's nothing much to see on the outside, but things will get more interesting once I've given you the tour." he laughed in a good natured tone.
Quatre smiled back at him and took the offered hand. "I'm sure it will, sir."
"Oh! Where are my manners? My name is Carlton Hews. I'm not exactly big on the whole 'sir' thing, so please call me Carlton." he insisted as he let out another deep laugh. "Now come along, and let me show you around the place."
~*~*~*~
It has been five days since the blonde soldier's arrival, and he already knew the entire layout of the building, thanks to Carlton's tour, and the questions he had been answering.
Since the two met, they began to chat, and talk, and soon they found out that they had quite a bit in common. Quatre found himself growing to like the easy going sergeant the more time he spent with him.
At the moment, they were sitting in the mess hall, looking at the weird concoction that the cook called food. Carlton was occasionally making comments about other soldiers, or the state of the base, and the blonde would usually laugh and agree in return.
But in the back of Quatre's mind, he kept having nagging thoughts of what he was doing, and how he was using the polite soldier to get what he needed.
He shoved those thoughts aside, and tried to listen to what the man was saying to him.
"I know you must be thinking how terrible the food is here, but you'll get used to it after a while." Carlton joked as he poked at the food on the tray in front of him. "Although, I'm not sure I'm used to it." His brown eyes looked around, and he leaned over the table and whispered. "I swear I saw the cook chasing a dog earlier today with a butcher knife."
Quatre had been taking a sip of his glass of water, but after he heard that his eyes grew big and he went into a spit take. "What?!" he coughed out laughing.
Carlton gave him a big grin. "Just tellin' you what I saw."
After wiping off his mouth, Quatre swatted at him with his free hand. "Oh be serious!"
The sergeant dodged the hand easily. "I am! Why do you think they call 'em hot dogs? And trust me, you do not want to know what part of the dog they use!" he cackled out in amusement.
His mouth dropped in disgust. "That is nasty! You are awful, Carlton! If you're not careful, you'll make the cook mad at you... Again." Quatre added with a smirk.
The larger man shrugged. "Oh well. Maybe if I complain enough, the cook will get the hint."
"Good luck with that ever happening!" Quatre laughed out.
Carlton grinned again, and went back to playing with his food. "Quatre, do you mind if I ask you a question?" he asked in a more subdued tone.
He Noticed the change, so the smaller soldier looked back at him curiously. "Sure, go ahead."
"What did you do before the war? I know you're only fifteen, but I was just curious if you had anything that you left behind." Carlton asked, actually being serious for once.
Quatre was a little surprised at the question, but he was able to come up with and answer. "Well, I was a student... Going to private tutors, and those kind of things. I guess I miss that a little. I did look forward to some of my classes..... I have a big family, mostly sisters, but I've never been able to visit them that much, and I've practically forgotten what half of them look like since they're all so much older than me... I know that doesn't sound good, but it's just the way things happened. They were all grown up and half of them were married by the time I came around... So I really grew up alone..." Quatre trailed off. He now realized the old dull pain that used to have a hold of him when he was young.
Carlton's brown eyes looked on thoughtfully at Quatre, who was obviously remembering his past. "Must have been tough on you... Not having anyone to really care for you..." he said softly. He slowly placed a hand on top of the younger boy's pale one on the table.
Quatre blinked out of his thoughts, and looked down at the tanned hand on his. He looked back up and smiled gently. "At times, yes, but I got through it. Now I have a few friends scattered about, and they care about me.... In their own unusual ways." the blonde chuckled. "Anyway, what about you? Do you have any family out there somewhere?" he asked curiously.
"Yeah..." Carlton got a small grin on his face. "I have two younger brothers, and an older sister out there. They live on the L3 colony."
Aqua eyes lit up. "I have a good friend that's from there. I met him a little after I became a soldier.... Although he tried to kill me when we first met, we got to know each other, and he's one of my best friends now." he added with a laugh.
The sergeant blinked. "He tried to kill you, and you still wanted to be friends with him?"
He laughed again, but the blonde tried to explain. "It was a big misunderstanding. He didn't know who I was at first, so instantly pegged me as an enemy. It took me a while, but I was able to convince him that we shouldn't be fighting."
"Huh, you must be a fast talker. I don't know many who can turn a guy who was trying to kill 'em into a friend." Carlton said jokingly.
Quatre smirked at that. "I have a habit of doing that. You wouldn't believe how many times I've been able to turn a situation from someone's about to blow my head off, to us having tea in the library." he replied honestly.
Again Carlton blinked. "Wow... Fast talker, and a charmer. I like that." He grinned brightly.
The blonde smiled back at him fondly. ~Huh, he's so much like Duo...~ he mused to himself.
Suddenly, the sergeant stood up and picked up his tray. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm gonna get rid of this lame excuse for food before I find out what's really in it."
Quatre found himself laughing at the comment, and stood as well. "Well, with all of your talk, I didn't eat any of it anyway. Maybe we could get a pizza sneaked in, or some Chinese food." he suggested. He knew that it wouldn't be that difficult.
"I like the way you think, Quatre!" Carlton laughed, and slung and arm over his thin shoulders. "Come on, I know a phone we can use, and where we could pick it up."
~*~*~*~
Hunched over a very large piece of, very expensive looking, equipment, Quatre carefully studied every detail. It was a new kind of power generator that took 80% less fuel to power, but had an output almost three times that a normal generator could produce. It was an incredible piece of modern technology....
~To bad I'm going to have to destroy it. Something like this could really help out our side.... Hm... Maybe I can look for the plans and download them to disk... Then I could..~
"Quatre! Whatcha doing in this musty old place staring at that clunky thing?" Carlton's voice called out, soon followed by a firm slap on the back.
"Ooof!..." Quatre coughed in surprise, then turned to him. "Oh, just looking around, trying to figure out how half of this stuff works." he covered quickly.
Carlton looked at all of the excessively big machinery in the large warehouse, then back to the blonde. "Hn, you're tellin' me. With all these damn buttons and switches on all of this shit, you hafta have and instruction manual on how to use the instruction manual."
The blonde smiled at that. "Really... So what's up? Did you come looking for me or something?" he asked curiously.
The man grinned. "Sure did. I wanted you to join me and a few of the boys for a friendly little card game." he explained.
Quatre thought about it, and shrugged. "Sure, why not. I'm a little rusty on card games, though. I'm more into chess myself."
That got Carlton's attention. "Really? Well, I'll be a monkey's second cousin... You know I've been looking around for over a year for anyone who even remotely knows how to play chess! Hell, my chess set in my quarters practically has an inch thick layer of dust on it!" he exclaimed, and made a mental note to clean it.
"Oh my, that's not good." Quatre giggled out. "Well, I'm sure, when we have the spare time, we could play a few games if you like." he offered politely.
"Oh, I insist! I may be a big sarcastic jackass most of the time, but even I appreciate a little culture now and then." Carlton stated. He then moved to the blonde's side and hooked his arm. "Come on. First I'll introduce you to the guys, then we'll clean them out of everything they have!" he laughed out as he led Quatre away.
Quatre laughed as well, and smiled brightly. "Sounds fun. Lead the way."
~*~*~*~
As they sat around at a large desk, Quatre and Calrton were casually studying the chess board placed in the center of the desk. The way the game had played out, they matched each other's moves precisely, and a stalemate was in the process of being an option. So now they were glancing at every piece on the board, and calculated any move that would increase their odds of winning.
Neither were in a particular hurry to make a move though.
After glaring at his white chess pieces for nearly ten minutes, Carlton sighed and sat back in his over stuffed desk chair. "Well, this is very odd... I've never had this happen before." He looked away from the board, and focused his attention on the blonde in front of him. "So what do you think?" he asked lightly.
As he sat in a smaller chair, but still with perfect posture, Quatre was looking at his remaining black pieces on the board with a thoughtful gaze. "This has turned out most interesting... I've been in stalemate before, but nothing like this.. The pieces are so close within a position that they could move in, but only one space is stopping them... Quite strange....." He gave a small frown of concentration.
The sergeant couldn't help but smile at the determined look on his face. "Well, now I can really tell that you had private tutors.... That kind of eloquent wording would never suit that of a soldier of the lower class." he joked.
But Quatre's frown deepened when he heard that. "Well, I wouldn't go as far as saying that they actually taught me anything...." he stated in a lower tone. "Hn, more like they shoved it down my throat." the blonde grumbled as he glared at his black queen, who was in Carlton's possession.
His tone caught Carlton's interest. "Oh? Was it really that bad?" he questioned curiously.
"Bad is and understatement...." the blonde boy grunted in reply. "My entire life was built solely on the purpose that I would someday take over my father's business, and run it the exact way he did... That didn't quite turn out the way it should have seeing's how I'm now a soldier rather than a businessman. I hate business..." His fists clenched tightly as he thought of all the countless insults and ridicule of his past.
Carlton saw the tension clearly, and was surprised by it. "I see.... Well, maybe it's best to just leave things in the past, and not dwell on it." the sergeant suggested lightly.
Quatre blinked for a moment, then sighed deeply. "Yes... Best not to dwell on it." When he focused his attention back to board, he noticed something that neither himself nor Carlton saw before. With a slight smile, he moves his bishop three spaces up.
As he watched his move, Carlton grinned. "Quatre, I think you're slipping." He then took his white queen and captured the black bishop.
The blonde's smile grew wider. "Am I?" He then moved his hand to a black pawn, that was position two spaces behind the white king, up one space.
It was on Carlton's starting line.
Still smiling at Carlton, Quatre delicately pointed to the black queen that was in the sergeant's hand. "I would like that back now." he stated politely.
Shocked at the sudden play, Carlton slowly replaced the pawn with the queen.
Once he did, Quatre smiled brightly. "Checkmate."
When he looked at all of his pieces, Carlton saw that he had absolutely no where to move. With a deep sigh, he took a finger and knocked over his king. "You win, Quatre...." He then reached out over the desk. "Good game."
Quatre took the strong dark hand in his thin pale one. "Yes it was."
~*~*~*~
"You've got to be kidding! And here I thought I was the only one who liked that all that ancient history!" Carlton exclaimed happily as he sat down his book on his bed.
The blonde was sitting in a chair across the room, and chuckled his response. "I was beginning to think the same thing. No one seems to realize that those events of the past shaped our future into what it is today. I find it very fascinating myself." he stated, quite happy at what he was hearing.
And Carlton was very pleased as well. "I swear, Quatre, you must be like my long lost brother or something! I loved studying war history of the past. I haven't had much opportunity to recently, but I sometimes get the chance. Oh, and I have a little something that might interest you..." he trailed off to add to the suspense.
And the blonde boy was hooked. "And that would be?..."
He grinned wide, and placed his hands behind his head. "There is a training facility, hidden to the world, underground somewhere in these mountains. It was originally designed to have the soldiers train to think quick on their feet.... Do you know of the labyrinth from ancient times in Greek mythology?" the sergeant asked to build up on the boy's curiosity.
Quatre nodded. "Of course. Mythology was my second best subject to war history."
"Quatre, I think I love you!" Carlton laughed. "But seriously, an almost exact replica of that maze has been built in that underground facility. Some say it was built by Treize himself, but no one knows for sure. Anyway, in certain places there are questions that lead to a door that will set you on the right track to the center of the maze. One answer could be right, or two, and sometimes all three are wrong. Pick the wrong door and something happens that'll scare the shit out of the soldiers, then they have to try again later. Usually the questions pertain to mobile suits, or modern battle tactics, but sometimes, just to throw them off, I'll put war history in place of the usual questions. No one has made it all the way through, not even me." he finished, curious at how he would react.
Quatre was silent for a moment, but then he smiled brightly. "That is very interesting.... Now you've got me curious. I wouldn't mind taking a crack at it sometime." he chuckled. Then his mind briefly mused over how he would like to throw a certain Chinese ass in the maze and let him fend for himself.
The thought alone brought a grin to his pale face.
Carlton raised a brow at the evil grin on his friend's face. "Quatre? What's got you grinning like the preverbal cat with a catnip mouse?" he asked curiously.
He blinked out of his musing state, Quatre blushed lightly, and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Oh, just thinking of a few people I'd like to toss in there to see how they would fare." he grinned sheepishly.
"I see... Well, I've actually done that a few times, and usually they act like total dumb asses. Can't even get past the first question."
That made the blonde boy smirk. ~He couldn't even read the first question...~
Quatre directed his attention back to the sergeant when he began to speak again.
"If you would like, Quatre, I could set up a session for you at the labyrinth.... Just for fun, of course." he added lightly.
"Of course. I would like that." he agreed with a smile.
Carlton then suddenly stood up. "Alrighty! I'll go set you up a date right now. I doubt many soldiers will protest to you being placed before them. They usually hate the labyrinth sessions anyway." he told him as he moves for the door.
Quatre soon followed him. "I can't imagine why." the private commented lightly.
The sergeant laughed, and glanced back at him. "Neither can I."
~*~*~*~
As he stared wide eyed at the computer screen, Quatre was at a loss for words. "They... They can't be serious...." Reading over the file once more only pounded the truth further into his mind. "They want me to carry out the base's destruction tonight?! But I've only been here a few weeks! I thought they wanted me to find out their plans and strategies..... But all they wanted was an inside destroy mission...." he trailed off.
Quatre didn't know what to do.
His mind went over the past few weeks, and his stomach turned in knots. "What can I do?... I befriended Carlton, and now I have to destroy all that he's worked for, and probably take his life in the process...." Tears came to his eyes when he thought of how trusting the sergeant had been to him.
His eyes then flickered to a thick leather bound book that was placed on his bed. It was a rare book that covered every single battle that has ever happened in the past history of man kind. It was Carlton's only copy, and he had given it to Quatre as a token of their new friendship.
The mere sight of the book made him feel sick, so he turned his gaze away harshly. "Why?... Why do I have to do this? Carlton is my friend! I can't kill him!!" Quatre cried out in frustration.
Trough his tears, his saw the blue tinted glow of the laptop screen, and it caused his fists to clench in anger. "You people are always destroying innocent lives... Damnit, why can't it just end now!?!" He let out a loud growl of frustration. The blonde boy grabbed the laptop, and threw it across the room with all of his strength.
He then watched as it collided with the wall and practically shattered into a million pieces.
Unable to take it anymore, Quatre slumped down to the floor and cried softly in misery. "Allah... Why must so many good people die for this war?..." Reddened aqua eyes then look back at the book on his bed, and something clicked in his head.
"I can warn him.... I can tell him the truth, and warn him before it's too late...." Now with a new energy, Quatre jumped to his feet and pounced on the desk chair. Quickly, after he took out a pen and paper from the desk, he began to pour his heart out on the paper.
It took everything for Quatre to keep his tears in check so they wouldn't spill out onto the paper.
It didn't take very long for him to finish it as best he could, but to the blonde it seemed like forever just to write one simple word. Soon he signed his name on the bottom, and folded it neatly. Taking out a piece of black ribbon that he had found a few days ago, he carefully took the book off his bed and gently tied the letter to the book. Once done, Quatre looked at what he did, and didn't know whether to feel good, or horrible about himself.
Unable to find an answer to his own silent questions, Quatre sighed deeply, and stood, book in hand. He wiped at his eyes quickly with the sleeve of his uniform jacket, then Quatre made his way for the door. He took one last glance at the room he had been staying in, the nice quarters that Carlton had gotten for him. His thoughts then replayed his time here, and more tears threatened to make themselves known. When he tried to suck it up as best he could, Quatre opened the door and left the room.
As he left, he whispered something to the air.
"Carlton... Please forgive me..."
**~*~**
Eyes slowly cracked open, and Quatre hissed in pain as bright lights practically seared into them.
But his poor eyes were nothing to him when he felt a sharp burning in his chest. When he coughed, the pain tripled, and racked through his body.
The blonde was beyond confused, but everything made sense when he found himself strapped to a chair in a barren white room. The only things in the room besides himself was two mirrors that were on each of the walls to his sides.
And when he looked up, his aqua eyes caught sight of light brown.
"Carlton..." he mumbled out.
The man gave a sharp angered glare to the blonde. "Hello Quatre... We have a lot of things to discuss, don't we?" he asked in a low growl.
Quatre bowed his head, and felt a tear roll down his cheek.
"Yes... Yes we do..."
~*~ TBC
Uh oh...
Later
