Dead.
No matter how many times she said it, it still didn't make sense.
He couldn't be dead. It wasn't possible, and yet she had seen it with her own eyes.
She had to accept it: Tolle was gone and he was never coming back.
The thought brought on a fresh batch of tears and Miriallia wondered briefly how she could still have them after all the crying she'd done so far.
She was sitting in the corner of the meeting room, having already given her account of what had happened.
Miriallia had finished the flower arrangement shortly after Cagalli went to breakfast and had been ready to take it out on the balcony when she'd bumped into Tolle in the hallway.
He was on his way to the same place so that he could have everything set up for the royal couple's brunch before they returned from their walk in the gardens.
Miriallia hadn't noticed anything suspicious in the chamber.
She'd held the door open for Tolle as he wheeled the cart in and towards the balcony.
The double doors to the balcony were standing open, allowing a warm breeze into the room, but that wasn't unusual.
She was about to go out on the balcony to place the vase of flowers she was still carrying in the center of the table when Tolle realized he'd forgotten the pitcher of orange juice in the kitchens.
"I'll get it," she volunteered. "You can go ahead and set the table."
She heard him thank her as she was heading back the way she came. She paused briefly to set the vase of flowers on a nearby table and that was when she heard the sounds of the plates Tolle had been carrying crashing to the floor.
She whirled around then and saw him locked in a struggle with a masked assailant who had apparently been waiting just outside of the doors on the balcony.
"Run, Mir!"
She heard him, but the meaning didn't register. She was frozen in place as she watched the gleaming knife in the assassin's hand plunge into Tolle's stomach. She saw the blood pouring from the wound, staining everything it came into contact with. She saw the assailant twist the knife before pulling it out as Tolle collapsed to the ground.
She heard the screaming then, but didn't register that she was the one screaming. She dropped to her knees there, in the middle of the room, as the tears poured from her eyes.
The assassin had already started for her. There was no hope of escape, but then there were the sounds of running footsteps outside in the hall.
The door opened and banged against the wall behind it. When Miriallia looked up, the assassin was gone and Athrun was running past her and onto the balcony, where he found the rope that the assassin had used to escape.
She barely noticed Cagalli dropping down onto her knees beside her. She felt the other girl's arms go around her, and then she fainted.
Dearka entered next. He took one quick look around the room, then followed Athrun down the rope.
Kira and Lacus, who had heard the scream from outside, took longer to arrive on the scene, and Yuna arrived even later.
Athrun and Dearka had returned while later, both winded, but empty-handed. They'd lost track of their prey in the woods at the edge of the palace grounds.
All of that had happened several hours before and now all seven of them were gathered in the meeting room.
Miriallia wasn't paying attention to what was going on around her anymore, was simply staring blankly ahead of her, reliving the events of the day. She could hear raised voices, but didn't try to distinguish who they belonged to or what they were saying.
After a moment, she felt a hand gently touch her shoulder and looked up to see Dearka standing in front of her with a concerned look.
"Come on, I'll take you back to your room."
She nodded numbly and allowed him to help her up.
With one arm around her shoulders, he gently guided her from the room.
As she moved past the rest of the group, she vaguely noted that it was Yuna who was yelling.
"How do we know they're not the ones behind this?" Yuna demanded. "What if they're just trying to frame Orb so that they have a reason to attack us?"
"Oh, yes, Yuna, they're trying to kill their own princess to restart the war." came Cagalli's sarcastic reply.
"Well, can they account for their whereabouts?"
Since Dearka had just exited the room, this was directed at Athrun, who just glared back at him. Well, he couldn't very well say "I was in a closet with your wife," now, could he? That would go over well.
"Athrun and Dearka were the ones who went after the assassin." Kira pointed out, calmly.
"And yet they didn't catch her even though they were so close behind? They let her escape!"
No one questioned Yuna's use of the feminine pronoun to describe the culprit. Both Athrun and Dearka had agreed the figure had been far too small to be a man.
"Yuna..." This warning came from Kira, who was seated at the head of the table with one arm around Lacus, who still seemed to be in shock.
"We lost her in the forest. We told you that. By the time we made it to the other side, she was gone. She probably had someone waiting for her on the other side."
Of course, when he'd realized it was a woman that they were chasing, Athrun had immediately jumped to the conclusion that it was the girl from the ball. The other two men could have been waiting for her in a car just outside the forest.
He'd mentioned this to the others already, of course. Dearka had been in agreement. They'd wanted to pay a visit to that address they'd acquired, but then Yuna had started in on them, and that was where they were now.
"This is ridiculous. We're wasting time arguing about this when we should be following up on that lead," Cagalli cut in when it looked like Yuna was about to say something else. "What if they go into hiding now that one of them has been seen?"
Athrun wasn't concerned about them changing locations. He'd taken Dearka aside earlier and asked him to find a reason to leave the room, get the address, and go stake out the house. Shortly after, Dearka had offered to escort Miriallia back to her room, giving him the excuse he needed. Athrun had every confidence Dearka was on his way to the house now, if he hadn't already arrived.
When he started paying attention to the conversation around him once more it was just in time to hear Kira say: "I trust Athrun with my life and, by extension, with Lacus's life. And as he seems to trust Dearka, I have a hard time believing he'd be involved in any of this either. I believe they're behind this just about as much as I would believe Cagalli is trying to kill Lacus."
Silence followed that remark until Yuna broke it, saying, "Well, she could be. After all, she might as well have been the queen until you married Zaft's princess."
Outraged gasps followed that remark just before two of the men shot to their feet.
The bastard could accuse him all he wanted, but Athrun would be damned if he was going to let him insinuate that Cagalli was behind the assassination attempts.
He was about to say as much when he noticed the woman in question giving him a warning look and mouthing the words 'sit back down.'
Kira, who had also stood up after that accusation, was looking murderous. "You're out of bounds, Lord Seiran."
Lacus, meanwhile, was gently pulling on his sleeve, trying to get him to sit back down as well. "Kira..."
Athrun was about to resume his seat and let Kira handle the matter when he felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and glanced at the digital display. Dearka.
He quickly excused himself from the room as he flipped the phone open and put it to his ear.
"Did you find them?"
"Yeah, I found them all right."
"Well?"
"It doesn't look like they're planning to skip town anytime soon. I parked in front of one of the other houses, but I can see in through what appears to be the living room window."
"And?"
"She's having tea and the two men are playing cards."
Silence.
"They're certianly not acting like people who just murdered someone."
"No, they're not..." Athrun replied after a moment, before lapsing into silence once more.
"Athrun?"
"Yeah?"
"What do you want me to do?"
"Stay out there for a few more hours, see if you notice anything odd. They may just be waiting for nightfall."
The two exchanged a few more words before Athrun hung up and slipped the phone back into his pocket. He reached out to open the door and almost ran into Yuna, who was in the process of storming out. He quickly stepped to the side to avoid a collision and watched as the other man continued past him and up the stairs at the end of the hall, muttering to himself the whole way.
How odd.
When he re-entered the room, it was to find the other three gathered around one end of the table, so he took a chair on that end as well.
"That was Dearka." he explained when the others all looked at him curiously. "He's staking out the suspects' house now, but they don't seem to be doing anything suspicious." He sighed. "I hate to admit it, but I think we may be following the wrong lead. I asked Dearka to stay out there a while longer to be sure, though."
"We were just discussing the possibility of Lacus returning to your homeland until we can put this entire episode behind us," Kira informed him. "If it comes to that, I'd like for you to escort her there since I won't be able to leave the kingdom at a time like this."
Athrun nodded solemnly. "I understand. We'll make sure she gets there safely," he promised, but he couldn't help but feel that he'd failed in his mission. Lacus shouldn't have to leave her home and her husband behind. It was his fault that they hadn't been able to catch the assassin sooner. If they had, then it wouldn't have come to this. And now he had the death of Tolle Koenig on his hands as well.
"Actually...well, what if...no..."
Everyone directed their attention to Cagalli, who had been the one to break the silence.
"What if what?" Lacus prompted.
"It was just a thought I had...I mean, what if we tried to lure the culprit out? We could put out the word that she's leaving the kingdom for an unspecified amount of time and that she's making one last public appearance to give a speech or something before she leaves..The assassin will think they only have this one chance left, which almost guarantees that they'll show up, then all we have to do is catch them red handed."
"Actually, that's not a bad idea." Athrun agreed.
"No. I don't want Lacus to put herself in danger like that." Kira interrupted.
"She wouldn't have to." Athrun responded, calmly. "We would just need someone to stall long enough for us to search the perimeter and catch our killer. Now, we just need someone who would be willing to take that risk."
Cagalli was quick to volunteer. "I'll do it."
The response from both men in the room was unanimous and adamant: "No."
"But it was my idea..."
"No."
A/N:
Well, what do you think?
I wrote the majority of this chapter while I was running a 102 degree fever, so I'm sorry if it doesn't make much sense.
On a side note, this story is nearing its end. There will probably be a total of 15 chapters, possibly 16, depending on how much I'm able to fit into one of them and whether or not I think I need an epilogue.
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this fic thus far. I really appreciate your support.
Reviews make me happy and make me want to write more, so, as always, R&R!