Disclaimer: I own nothing.
AN: Right now, I'm frustrated for more than one reason. First of all, I
practically got straight A's on my report card, and my mother just nodded. You
can't imagine how degrading that is… I might have to do a short to help with
this… Secondly, you have so many questions, and I want to give you so many
answers, but the problem is that most deal with the plot. Yes, there is a plot,
and most things will be tied up in the end. There may be some things I left
out, but you get to ask all of your questions in the last chapter, and the
epilogue will answer them all. Now, on with the replies for the last chapter.
To Erinamation-limited2-nothing: Um… the rest of the plot?
Queen of Shadows: heh, I hate to do
this but… you'll have to wait until the end before I finally show everyone what
the locket's all about. ^^
Anrui Shino: Aki's locket started
turning black in about… chapters 17 and 18. And Aki's cousin is Yuki, not Aiko;
I just forgot to change it when I changed the girl's name… Gomen-san. ^^
Dragon Faere: Personally, I like T/M
as opposed to T/C but either are fine. Catherine's coming, I really like her as
a character ^^. And Hilde… I really didn't want to put her in danger, but it
seemed the most logical.
The Fic Critic: I would LOVE to add
something like that in there, but unfortunately, not my style. Though, there
will be tension between those two. I just love the idea of an over protective
big brother. ^^
Hououza: Yes, very confusing as it
was part of the plan. Well, what did you expect? They've only been going out
for about a month, and Relena doesn't keep in contact with her brother much,
and she'd probably tell Noin, but not Zechs! Oh, that'd be homicide for Heero.
Now, before you maim me for keeping you
here any longer, I'll go on with the chapter! See you at the end!
Black Hair and Gray Eyes
Chapter 21
Heero's first instinct was to make sure
Relena was okay, and he rushed over to her, checking for any wounds, but finding
that she was only a bit dazed. Duo, on the other hand, looked like he'd just
been trampled but horses.
"This better not be some sick joke."
Wufei muttered as he eyed the group from beside the fireplace. Duo glared, and
stomped right over to the Chinese man, looking as if he was ready to rip his
head off.
"Honestly Wufei, do you think I would
try to fool around with this? I fought for their lives in there, and you can
only accuse me of being a liar??" Heero was certain that Duo's eyes had flashed
red, and decided to break the two up, since Zechs was helping Relena now. But
Midii came first, and she pulled them apart with the help of Trowa and
Chantelle.
"Calm down boys. Sit down, Duo, and tell
me what happened up there." Grudgingly, Duo did as he was told, glaring at
Wufei.
"I went to help Hilde into bed, but
these men came out of nowhere, and they looked around. They saw Miss. Relena,
but I managed to fight those guys off. But, then, their eyes turned onto Hilde,
and I tried to fight them off, but they pulled her out of the window anyways.
There must've been two dozen men, but they all tried to get her, I don't know
why though. Fuck, there must be at least two or three lying unconscious in my
room right now…"
"I'll go check it out." Sally, always
the Preventer, all but ran upstairs to where the couple's room was, with
directions from a servant who stood by the doorway apprehensively. Duo
continued to babble on uselessly about his guilt, and Heero went to go look at
the room with Sally.
It was exactly how he had thought of it
to look like: three large men in dark green clothing laid, sprawled on the
floor, the glass in the window broken, with pieces showing that it had been
broken into from the outside.
"Heero, help me pick these men up and handcuff
them. We'll interrogate when we're ready. Do you have a room to set them in?"
Heero nodded, and walked over to the next man to handcuff him. The last man was
starting to wake up, but, with one efficient punch to the head, he was down
again. "Okay, lead the way."
Sally picked up one of the men, leaving
Heero to take two of them. His shoulder gave only a slight protest at this, and
they walked downstairs, below ground level, and into an empty room. They were
all searched, winding up with two pistols on each, a set of picklocks on one,
and a couple of other things used to get into the compounds. Locking the door
and placing a security measure on it, they went back upstairs.
Walking into the room, they had stepped
right into a slightly panicked Duo, chanting something about his baby and wife.
Without Hilde here to calm him, none knew what to say. So, instead, Heero
punched him on the face. With a thud, the braided man fell to the floor.
"What the hell was that for?" Duo turned
on him, murderously, but Heero remained unfazed. He threw the loaded guns right
beside Duo, making the other man stare in shock.
"You're lucky to of made it through
alive." Short, curt, and unfeeling. Just the way the old Heero used to be. Aki
came to inspect the guns, holding them at different angles as she did. Her
sleeves had been rolled up, as to not add any more fingerprints than might be.
"Fully loaded alright, and deadly
accurate too. Obviously, the people behind this are rich, skilled, and want
something, probably more than just a simple bit of cash." She studied the
sleek, smooth handles and then the barrel, making Heero wonder where she would
get the training to learn this. "Hand crafted. These weren't bought, they were
made."
"What? Impossible!" Sally and Wufei both
reached down to grab one, but Aki slapped their fingers away.
"Gloves first." So after they ran into
the kitchen for some gloves, they picked up a gun each, and studied them
carefully. Heero took the one out of Aki's hands, having his own winter gloves
to keep his finger oil from sticking. At the sight of the gloves, though, Duo
began to get frantic again.
"Oh fuck! It's freezing out there, and
Hilde's only got her night clothing on! She better be alright when I get to
her, or else they'll suffer a slow and painful death, I'll make sure of that…"
The group ignored the babbling ex-Gundam pilot. But, they did wait on the two
Chinese Preventers to see what they thought of the guns.
"How could they possibly make these
guns? Don't you need a mould, the materials, and… well… machinery?" Obviously,
Aki could not use the 'I was an orphan' excuse to explain this bit of her past,
as Chantelle didn't know much about guns, but she was right.
"They're obviously more than wealthy.
And with money, it couldn't be that hard to get things, especially with the
black market."
"Are you sure that this is a kind of gun
they made?"
"Yes, there hasn't been one that I've
seen of that had this much potential before I've even tested it." Relena looked
between the two girls who were discussing the weapons in front of them, uncomfortable
that they knew so much. The younger one was about half her age! She wanted to
stop them, after all, it was almost Christmas, but the phone rang then and
there.
Picking it up nervously, she hoped it
wasn't anything to do with the press, official business, or anything of the
sort. But she had managed to compose herself before answering.
"Hello?" No answer. Confused, she
checked the caller ID. Invalid, perfect. She looked at the vid-screen, but
there was nothing. Out of the blue, two incredibly green eyes opened, but that
was all she could see. The person on the other line laughed.
"Miss Relena, I see," It was a woman,
with an undeniably smooth voice, but with a deadly tone, "I have a certain…
friend of yours, who seems in a terribly fragile state." The screen turned to show
Hilde, knocked out cold, tied and gagged. Relena's eyes turned into small slits
as she glared at the other woman.
"What do you want?"
"The girl." She nearly jumped. Money,
she could do. Herself, she could corner them, but a girl? Did she mean her
daughter? Speaking of the devil, Aki pushed Relena out of the way, glaring at the
vid-phone. There was a small chuckle from the other side.
"Show me Hilde." Duo was right by her
now, apprehensive at this new twist of events. But, when the screen showed his
wife, he turned away in disgust. At who, though, was questionable.
"The woman is fine, just knocked out.
She'll wake soon, and we'll take care of her, on one condition." There was a
sharp intake of breaths from everyone as they waited. "You come to the Christmas
carnival, alone. Of course, we know you probably won't follow that, so I haven't
finished yet. Go to the carousel, after the carnival closes, and we'll be
there. You must be inside before we release the woman. Your friends can head
around the front, where we'll let her walk down the steps of the park. Alone.
Any tricks, and we swear, we'll kill you and the woman, and anyone else with
you."
"Aki…" Relena looked nervously at her
daughter, wanting to risk neither of her friend or her daughter's lives. Then,
there was a baby to be considerate of too. Aki, though, looked calm, and peeked
inside her locket. With a sigh, she looked back up at the screen.
"Fine. Meet at midnight, in three days."
And Relena was so sure, that she had
seen a smirk on Aki's face.
"What do you think you are doing!?"
Chantelle all but screamed at the older girl, who sat in the den calmly,
despite all the looks that she was getting. "Don't you remember what Chris
said? She said that you're, no, we're
done with the street life. You don't have to be responsible anymore, of a hero.
You. Are. Going. To. Get. Yourself. Killed." And with that, she promptly sat
herself on the ground, counting to thirty.
After the call, they had all watched in
shock as Aki sat down calmly on the sofa, but that was all she did. No plans,
or schemes, no nothing. She just sat down. Out of them all, Chantelle had been
the first to gather enough of her wits to yell at Aki. And yell she did.
"Aki, she has a point. You don't
seriously mean to go through with this, do you?" That had been Dorothy. She
stepped up from beside Quatre, entranced by the little bit of senselessness
from what usually seemed to be a sensible girl.
"No, not completely. That's why I've
given us three days. I want to discuss a little something with everyone here."
She looked around, still unfazed by the glares and looks she was receiving. "But,
it can wait. I think it would be best if we rested before going through the
plan I've decided on. After a few silent moments, they all agreed. Relena and
Heero stepped up, right up close to their daughter to have a word with her.
"Fine, we will wait until tomorrow, but
on one condition. First thing tomorrow and first thing only, you will tell us
all about what is going on. No holding back." Aki nodded, and waited for
everyone to give her their last looks before they retired to their rooms.
"Fine, but you won't know if I'm holding
back, how do you expect to trust me?" She whispered into the air, letting her
gaze wander to the snowy wasteland outside. Of course, there was no answer.
*~*~*~*~*
In the dark room, where there was no
light except for the hourglass, Aki sat, waiting. In her dreams, this was the
only way she could access this room, and she knew why. The hourglass was her
lifeline, and when the last bit of sand fell… her last seconds left her.
Fortunately, there was still some left.
"You shouldn't have come." A small,
sweet voice came from ahead of her, but Aki couldn't see the form. But, she
knew what was speaking to her. Actually, it was who, not what.
"I had to know. Do the fates have it
planned out yet?" A smaller figure, nearly identical to Aki, walked into the
light. She was only a bit smaller, about eight years old. Long, unkempt, black
hair rolled down her white gown, blue eyes shimmering from underneath the messy
bangs. The darkness showed her nothing beyond the girl's backside, but tiny,
white fluffs flew all around them.
"Yes, everything. This time, Aki, we can't
cheat death." She nodded solemnly. "And
I know how things were beginning to go right for you too. I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I'll only be sorry for those
I leave behind. You did all you could. We fulfilled what you wanted us too. But
I have one more question." The girl with lively blue eyes met Aki's own cold
gray ones. "Why is your side of the locket turning white?" The girl smiled, the
first one in a while, and twirled, disappearing in a gust of wind, fabric, and
pure white wings.
"Oh, I see…"
*~*~*~*~*
I said supernatural, didn't I? So, a few
more things revealed, but still, you won't know everything until the end. ^^ I
just love torturing the readers, such fun! Well, how'd you like that chapter?
It just gets a bit clearer, but a bit more confusing each time, doesn't it? Oh
well, I'll see you next chapter!