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Chapter 12 The Strangest Desire
The morning had been very tiring; Dorothy had woken her up at the crack of dawn to dress her with her gown. Even picking out a mask had been a hassle since Catherine wanted only something to cover her face, not something to draw attention. This entire thing was really beginning to bore her, why should she hide behind a mask when she should really be trying to figure out what Trowa felt for her. She knew it was more then just simple feelings, and could tell in the way he looked at her. Since the accident he had been more caring, more compassionate then he had before and Catherine guessed since she could not see him, that he was letting his guard down, for who would be afraid of a harmless blind woman. "Dorothy why don't we just forget about the entire thing?" The dress that Dorothy picked out was beautiful and she loved it, but she felt more like some child playing make-believe in her mother's best gowns.
Dorothy stilled her mouth as the plea came from deep inside all of the fabric. "My dear you do want to remain a stranger to him do you not? To keep him from finding out whom you really are? Everyone is on your side on this, we, I have gone through great lengths to make you look different from the normal you, do you not like the change?" With the flick of the wrist she turned Catherine around to look in the mirror. There in the mirror stood a woman with long straight red hair and sky blue eyes staring at the blonde woman, trying to talk her out of this. "You could always stay in your room, and hear us talk about it, and that Mr. Barton was swept off his feet by some strange woman with black hair, that they eloped together and had kids." Raising one of her forked eyebrows she smirked. "Though I very much doubt that you would be invited to the wedding, seeing as you might steal the groom from the bride."
"Fine I will go through with this...." Though she was against everything and had agreed to this in the first place, she felt that her own being was being drained away from her. The very thing that made her her was disappearing and this new woman was coming forth. 'What if I do all of this and he does not even blink, he just walks right past me and to some other woman, reaching out to her with his gloved hand, asking her to dance.' Her hand fingered the fabric of the dress, nervous about even being asked to dance let alone being rejected. The sudden desire to break the mirror startled her, she did not see herself anymore, only the shell of her being remained. Catherine Bloom would not do this; no she would pin him with her dagger like gaze and tell him exactly what she thought of him for better, or for worse. Then why was she feeling so weak at the knees; at the very idea of confronting him about this turn of events? Why was she hiding behind this mask when it only further hid her feelings from him? The questions haunted her as she turned from the mirror. "Take the mirrors away, if I am to do this I do not want to see what I have become." Shoulders slumped she sighed and let Dorothy continue finishing the dress before someone interrupted them and gave them away.
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After a full day of Dorothy pricking her and stabbing her she had been released, her hair tied up in a towel to keep anyone from knowing that it was straight instead of the usual way. So far she had yet to see a familiar face and was feeling very confident when she rounded the corner; there stood the very wolf himself. Catherine's stomach lurched at the sight of Vincent, shaking hands with one of the doctors outside her room. Dorothy had told her specifically not to converse with anymore today, that it was better if she not trip up her charade and keep isolated, yet this man was blocking the only doorway to her room. 'I have no other choice, I have to walk by him.' Casually she leaned against the wall and let it guide her towards the opening of her bedroom. Callused hands came onto hers and she bit her lip as she kept from screaming. "Who is there?" She asked faking her blindness just as she had been told to.
Vincent smiled at her though it was wasted. "It is only me my lady, what are you doing out of your room? You are very ill, and need your rest." He guided her to her room his hands still wrapped around hers as if it where some golden goblet with the elixir of life inside. "My aren't we looking lovely today. You must be going to that party Lord Quatre is having?"
Catherine felt ready to vomit, the honey on his lips was too sweet for her taste, and if only she had her knives she would cut off that tongue and give it to someone that deserved it more. "I think not, I can not go and I am blind, not ill, I can go out if I want." She tore her hand away from his, satisfied at his look of rejection.
"A blind woman, as attractive as yourself may tempt some strange man, and he may guide you into some hidden hall and have his way with you. You would be non the wiser." He licked his lips, not mentioning the fact that that was what he had intended to do if she had not pulled her hand away from his. Slowly he let one finger trail down her arm, watching it trail down and make goosebumps on her flesh
"A man like you?" Though her gaze was vacant and could not see anything, her eyes found where he would have been and locked on as she ripped her arm away from his finger, which felt like he were cutting her arm open with just his finger tip. "Though I am blind I can defend myself against the vilest of men." She had meant it as a disgrace, something to make him storm away, but she could see the mirth in his eyes at the jest. He was actually laughing at her.
"You give me too much credit, and yet you hurt my feelings when I was merely trying to be a friendly stranger." He tried to grab for her hand again but once his flesh touched hers, she pulled her hand to her side, backing slowly away.
There it was again, that look of hunger for meat, blood...and war. The same look that had made her fear him to begin with. He kept his eyes on her, and since he figured she could not see, looked her body over, as he would some piece of meat. Catherine shivered as she felt his eyes undress her with his eyes, she reached behind her failing for the door she knew was there. "Good night sir." She stated glad that her room was within reach and she need not act blind for the remainder of the day. Everyone was too busy getting their costumes ready, or getting even with other party members to care what she was doing. Locking the door behind her she let out a sigh of relief. Running to her bathroom she locked that door as well and scrubbed her body down, trying to get rid of that terrible feeling he had left on her skin.
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Sally Poe smirked as Noin explained the entire thing to her. "Oh so Dorothy has decided to play matchmaker? Strange I would have pictured her as the one that destroys love, not creates it." They were on their way to Catherine's room to discuss the plan. "Well, I can't say I don't approve, the very thought of pulling one over on that pompous ass Wufei is very tempting. It might just wake him up from this "I am right and you are wrong" thought in his head." Smiling she nodded her head. "I should say I am in, you can count on me."
Noin laughed, "You sound like you are on another mission sent to us from the Preventors." The war had faded from her mind but not the people or places she had been to at the time. "Well if you think about it, this would be out last mission, I don't think Zechs will let me out of his sight after this one."
"If he had never let you out of his sight to begin with then you would not be planning to trick him. Am I right?" Sally Poe elbowed her friend, they had worked together for a while, even went to school together. They had been friends for a while. "Something tells me that Zechs does not know about this plan of yours."
"If he did do you think I would be talking about it with you?" Noin watched the servants that Quatre had scurry around the mansion, taking to their tasks. "I am just doing this for a friend but never the less it seems like a good idea. Though our little princess does not know about it yet. Let alone that Heero is here at all." She ran a hand of hers down the back of her head, gently scratching it. "But you never know this could be better for us all in the long run."
"Yeah, well you have me on you side, I have always wanted to get Wufei back for that stubborn streak of his."
"Well now is your chance, just don't over do it. The key is that he is not supposed to be able to tell who you are. Make him wonder." Laughing she put a hand to her mouth. "Just think of the look on his face when he finds out that the woman he was dancing with was you all along."
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Relena sighed as she left the room, Dorothy had just told her about the plan but she saw no reason for it. They could just do this without her. There was no person here she needed to hide from, other then that Vincent man. "Let them do what they want, I will not stand in their way. I'll just watch from the sidelines, and enjoy the looks on everyone's faces when they realize they have been fooled, my brother's will be the best." She laughed a little as she looked at her light pink dress. 'Pink the one color that I have loved for so long. Something about it right now repulses me.' She let her hand fall that had been reaching towards the soft fabric. 'Strange, I feel that something else is in store for this occasion.' She reached into her bags, pulling out an equally soft material, just a different color. "Much better..." Holding the dress up she looked at the mirror as she held the burgundy red dress to her body, watching the skirt billow out.
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"No no no, that is all wrong. The candles go in the center of the table." Quatre arranged the flowers and candles the way he liked and told the servants to do the same. 'Wonder where Dorothy is, seems too quiet for her right now.' Things had been going really smoothly for him, everyone had arrived and the party was taking place that evening nothing could go wrong. Despite the fact that an unwelcome visitor was trying to steal the affections of Trowa's main squeeze. Trowa had filled him in when he had caught Vincent staring at Catherine, as a wolf would. "There that is much better." He kind of felt sorry for his dear friend, they had known each other a long time and he knew how Trowa reacted to the very idea of someone taking what he thought was rightfully his. The room seemed extremely quiet and too small as Quatre left to get some fresh air. Everything was going as planed, the party was going to be that evening and everyone, with the exception of Ms Catherine, were going to come. He wished silently that Vincent would leave before the dance began but the way it seemed, the stranger would be there not only for the party but for the days after it as well. 'Guess I know where the term, "unwelcomed guest" comes into play.' The papers for the day had been filed and put in their place, signed and looked over so the rest of the day was his. 'If only I could find something to do.' His smiled a little at the idea of jousting with Dorothy or playing some chess. Her mind always challenged him and he loved a challenge, something to work at and toy with until he understood it and then Dorothy would do something totally out of character and throw his plans out the window. Lately some outer force too focused on it to really pay any attention to him had distracted her. Usually the attention she gave was highly unwanted but he found that with the lost attention he wanted it even more. The satisfaction of knowing she wanted to be near him, yet could not made him laugh inside and laugh he did. "Maybe that woman finally found herself a man to hang on to besides myself." He picked one of the lilies out of the vase outside his room and inhaled its scent. They had been his mother's favorite and therefore anything that his mother had liked he had always wanted to keep nearby, but the scent today did not seem as appealing as it should of. Quatre wanted something spicier, something richer, and something that had a bite to it. He kept the flower with him intending to put it in a vase in his room as he opened the doors, looking down at his papers trying to figure out exactly what was going to go on. The invitations had included not only the pilots and their friends but also his servants as well as some of the civilians that lived in the area. He looked up seeing his room was as he had left it, his attire for the evening hanging from a hook on the wall, his huge, vacant, bed made and cleaned, he could still see where Dorothy had cut the end of it trying to wake him up early and anger him, he had only sent her out and had the comforter refitted, all that was left to show the cut was a small seem at the head of the bed. 'Tonight everything will be perfect,' he thought has he sat down and lay back taking a short nap, his mask for the dance looking down at him from its perch on the hook.
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"Why am I attending this again?" Heero asked as Duo looked through the tuxes in the closet in his room. Heeo had declined going to the dance, saying he had work to do and needed time to himself but Duo had insisted.
"Why to see that princess of yours, why else do you think?" They had run into each other again and Heero had yet to escape from under his gaze. "Come on you will be wearing a mask the entire time, she will not recognize you remember you have blonde hair now. She may even think you are Quatre, though with that stern mouth of yours that never smiles I highly doubt that. I still can't believe you even thought of staying here in the mansion rather then going to the dance hall, everyone will be there. Though you are probably trying to avoid everyone am I right?" He smiled weakly as he pulled out a tux which had been left in the room just in case someone did not bring their own. "Here you go buddy, one penguin suit to go, looks about your size too." He dropped the suit in Heero's arms waiting for it to fall to the ground. "What no, "I have no time for this" mumbo jumbo?" He asked raising an eyebrow at the silent soldier.
The soldier looked up at him. "After this mission I am no more, I have all the time in the world, whether I like it or not." Heero looked down at the suit, wishing again he had not shown up or been seen by anyone, least of all by Duo. "Next time you have the choice to either let me die or save me, let me die." His voice was stern as he stood up, the suit in his arms as well as shoes they had found earlier.
Duo watched him leave sighing. "There goes the most uptight man I have ever seen. Oh well, after tonight everything will be better and he will have that little princess cooing at him." Duo stuck his tongue out in disgust thinking of them doing that. "He always did do that to me, make me sick to my stomach that is." He groaned again as he thought about when they had first met and when he had set his leg back in place.
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