Disclaimer: Today, I learned how to get grease off of
clothes, how to get the nickname "scary woman", and that I don't own Gundam
Wing.
AN: Yes!! Holidays!! I just learned how to play Chinese checkers today too,
that was fun. Even though I got my butt kicked by my teacher, heh. Anyways,
this was the chapter I've been planning out since the start! Oh, I was so
excited to start this one… though it might make you hate me… more on that at
the end. Don't want to give anything away. ^^ And there will be a few
references from Endless Waltz, but I just loved that sequel too much, and
Marimaia's definition of war that I can't just not leave it in there.
To Hououza: heh, I know, a real twist, wasn't it. Unfortunately, the idea
wasn't completely mine. I got it from a series by Philip Pullman. Yes, I don't
want to end this story either, but I have a million other ideas to write out (I
keep to a two story maximum) and all things must come to an end. *pouts* I
don't really want to end my baby!! (Last day of school before Christmas; too
much candy)
Lynn-Minmay: *looks around* who,
me? Thanks, I guess… I'm hoping to
publish a work someday… but my dad doesn't really approve. But still, thanks
for the vote of confidence!
Watery Lily2: ^^ yes, the
supernatural had everybody on my heels demanding answers for a while there, so
I finally gave in a told them everything. *sigh* so much for my super dramatic
ending…
Queen of Shadows: Yep, Hilde lost
the baby. It was the reason for her to be kidnapped in the first place. *sigh*
that was part of the angst, but it didn't completely turn out like I wanted it
to… stupid plot changes.
Yet another chapter for all of you! Wow! So close to the big 150!
Black Hair and Gray Eyes
Chapter 25
"Duo! Duo, w- what did you do to that
man!?" Sally skidded to the spot where her friends stood, along with a man who
had undoubtedly died a painful death. He lay at Duo's feet with a large bullet
wound to his head. There were bits of blood and other pink materials
everywhere, including a large amount matting down the man's dark hair.
Instead of giving an explanation, Duo
spat at the man coldly and turned to Hilde. His face softened as he took in her
pale, frightened face. For the first time in what seemed to hours, Duo felt his
stomach wrench and felt sick.
"Hilde, I- I'm sorry. I don't know what
came over me." Her face didn't lax, and he feared he had lost her then and
there. But she stepped forward and buried her face into his shoulder.
"Duo… I…" But she didn't continue, just
stayed there, motionless, except for the unsteady rise and fall of her chest, signaling
that she was still breathing. Duo shivered at the thought of his last actions,
and nearly collapsed.
"Wufei… what are we going to do? We can't
just pull them out of here in the state that they're in." Sally turned to her
partner, unsure of herself for the first time in a long time. "I mean, sure,
Duo's tough, but doing that can't do him any good. And Hilde can't be doing
well either." There was a moment of silence as they tried to figure out a way
to get out quickly, when Duo spoke again.
"Hi- Hilde lost the baby." Sally's heart
skipped a beat, almost making her keel over, as she began to comprehend his
words. But as much as she wanted to go over to them and comfort both of her
friends, steady, quick footsteps came from far off.
"Wufei! Down the hall, go take care of
them. I'll take these two to the entrance." She went to follow through her
plan, but Wufei's hand on her shoulder stopped her.
"No, you come with me. They'll be fine. Then,
we'll both carry them out." Unsure, yet again, she looked at Wufei, then the
couple, before closing the door slightly and nodding to her partner. They ran
off, guns ready to fire.
The two beats of war were starting
again.
*~*~*~*~*
"How…?" Aki looked around the room
hurriedly, searching for any way to get out. The door was much more firm than
she strong, and she could never break it down. Then, it hit her. "When brawn
doesn't work, use brains."
Walking over to the table, she picked up
the teapot on it. Behind her, a large glass window stood, proud and tall.
Picking up the teapot, she quietly began to run towards the window, quickly
calculating how far she should stop.
Two more leaps, and she stopped, using
whatever force she could manage to make the glass shatter to the ground, each
individual shard falling silently, yet the shattering had done great justice.
Now, was the hardest part for her to do,
she took a couple of steps towards the door, quickly, and screamed as loud as
she could. These people didn't know her, and they didn't know that Akira didn't
scream, but it was going to be worth it.
She grunted, hitting various objects to
give the impression of a fight. Surely there wasn't a camera in the mistress's
room. When the door didn't open, she began to yell frantically.
"Help! Gods, no!" The door swung open,
leaving Aki to come face to face with two younger looking guards, who seemed
new to this kind of thing. They had caught her off guard, but she was the first
to regain her composure. Taking out her knife, she ran head first into the
closest guard's stomach, effectively knocking the wind out of him. Then, she
turned to the other man, who was slightly more prepared now. He was reaching
for his gun, but Aki took out the knife, flipped it open, and flung it right at
the man. He fell, clutching at it as his pupils dilated, and blood ran through
his fingers. Disgusted by what she had just done, Aki walked over to the man
and felt his pulse. There was none.
"Forgive me." She flipped him over, and
pulled the knife out of his chest. Closing his eyelids, she bowed before
dashing off, hoping the guard didn't have a family. There was likely no way of
redeeming herself before her death, right?
Pushing the image of the young man
falling to his knees to the back of her mind, Aki flew down all the halls,
looking for familiar ones. But she had no idea where the main room was.
Rounding the corner, Aki nearly ran into a large group of soldiers.
They were rounding another corner, and
Aki whipped right back to where she had come from. They were going to spot her,
no matter how fast she ran. They were running somewhere too. Her mind raced,
and she began to think back to the days of being an orphan on the streets.
'What would the street Aki do?' Then her
mind clicked and she smiled, nearly hitting herself on the head for not
remembering the simple answer. "Deceive them of course."
With a long intake of breath she walked
out in front of them, and turned to face the large crowd. They stopped, getting
their weapons ready. The foremost one eyed her warily, and she nearly lost her
edge.
"What are you doing here child?" he had
a gun pointed at her, but she had seen this before, and urged herself to keep
calm and collected, and stick to her plan.
"You wouldn't shoot Mistress Avalon's daughter,
would you?" He looked at her up and down, before deciding that she was kin with
his mistress. Raising his hand to signal to the others to drop their weapons,
he bowed.
"Mistress Akira, I thought that y-"
"Enough! You must've not of heard the
news. I've decided to join the gang. Now, I'm going to the main room to meet my
mother there, and assist her in killing the Vice Foreign Minister. Where are
they?"
Head still bowed the foremost man
replied, "We're going there ourselves. We heard of what might happen, and were
rushing down there to help."
"What? Whose orders were you following?"
"B-but Mistress!"
"Silence. You are to direct me to the
main room, and I'll help my mother there. Then, you may leave your posts. The
security cameras were to be turned off, as my mother said, and none of you are
to interfere. This is… personal." When the man bowed even lower and started to
give her directions, she nearly smirked. It was all going as planned.
*~*~*~*~*
Relena and Heero stopped at the end of
the group, though not knowing the cause. Relena looked up at Heero worried, but
he was gone. She felt a hand grazing hers, and turned to find him behind
another corner. Not daring to even whisper his name, she followed him, trying
not to make a sound as she disappeared with him.
"Where?" She was panting as they ran,
but Heero seemed fine. His longer legs carried him swiftly, and made Relena
glad that it wasn't one of those times when she had to run in High Heels. Now
that she was wearing appropriate footwear, she was keeping up with him, even
though just barely.
"There's another route." The hallway
opened to her right, and a flash of green suited soldiers whizzed past as she
ran. Her hair flying out behind her, she turned her gaze back to in front of
her, to see the end of the hallway opening into another one, which turned left,
away from the group.
The next hallway was deserted, and dark.
Blue lights flashed above her every now and then, but most of the light came
from the corner she had just past. Someone was really trying to hide this part
of the building more than others. At the end of the hallway were double doors
and she felt Heero's pace slowing, until they reached the door, when they
finally stopped.
He turned to her suddenly, and cupped
her cheek.
"Are you okay?" Her face was flushed as
she panted heavily, while his breath was only slightly off.
"Just let me catch my breath." She held
her hand to her chest, and waited for her breathing to slow down, just a bit. When
she felt that she could run again, or anything else for that matter, she stood
up straight and nodded to Heero.
"Okay…" Gathering their wits, they took
a few paces back, and burst in…
To see a single woman standing in the
room, in a simple, green gown, and long black hair. It was the security room,
they assumed, as there were monitors all around. But why she was alone, was the
question.
She turned to the both of them, her
small, green eyes evaluating the two quickly, before her face broke into a
smile. She reached into her, folds, making Heero tense and finger at his gun,
and pulled out a single blade. She examined it, still smiling, before turning
to them, her right hand all the while fingering the knife.
"Adoptive parents to Akira… I must say,
I'm quite impressed. She's certainly is something, though, people as strong as
the Queen of The World and Pilot of Gundam Zero must be something." Her voice
was sweet, but with a venomous edge to it. "It's too bad that you two both
ended up on the good side.
"How ironic, Miss Peacecraft, that two
mothers of the same girl, may end up in two completely opposite sides, with two
opposite views, and be leaders of powerful people." Relena was confused. What
did this woman mean? She couldn't possibly be… could she?
"Oh, Miss Peacecraft, it seems as if you've
finally figured this out! Yes, I am Akira's biological mother, and I am leader
of this pleasant little group." She gave a small, delicate laugh, as if she was
a regular woman from higher society than the leader of a gang, raging for war.
Heero
glared at this woman, the one who claimed to be mother of Aki. There was
absolutely no way, though they did resemble each other. She had to be at least
thirty-five then, right?
"But enough of that. I might want to let
you acknowledge that this is to be your very last day alive, and I want to enlighten
you with a few answers. Anything you… would like to know?"
There was an audible click behind them, signaling
that the door had been locked, and the lady just smiled. "Our daughter has been
rather naughty, and is just outside right now. Oh! How rude of me, I forgot to
mention my name, didn't I?" She was teasing them now, all the while playing
innocently with the knife. "I'm Mistress Avalon, but you can just call me
Avalon."
"Avalon. If you were really Akira's
mother, why did she grow up an orphan, then you suddenly come and bring her
back to you?" Heero looked at Relena in shock, wondering why she had gone ahead
and asked the question. It was almost as bad as giving in.
"Ah, it was that couple, the one that
Akira may have mentioned, that actually stole her from me, along with her
sister, Arika. Why they let them know their names, but not their mother, is such
a mystery. Keeping their names just made them easier to find." She leapt down
from the small platform and strode over to them, but keeping her distance. A
pistol appeared out of nowhere, and was now in her left hand.
"Anything else?" They were silent, and
Avalon smiled before stepping back. "Alright then. I guess it's time to 'meet your
maker'." She held the gun up, and pointed it to Heero first…
*~*~*~*~*
After getting instructions from the
soldier and making them leave, Aki had been forced to walk down the hall, to
have a calm appearance, even though she had wanted nothing more than to run.
Every second was another second she had wasted on eliminating Avalon before she
got to her parents.
She rounded the corner, and walked only
a few steps, before she was sure that she wouldn't be detected. Running down
the hall, Aki spied a dimly lit door, far off in the distance. It had just
closed.
"Damn. Mother, you better be alright!"
Her speed increased, and she sprinted to the door as quickly as she could, a
gun she had picked up from a while back in her hand. When she got to the door,
she slowed down, knowing that it would be a better choice to not barge in there
and have every gun inside pointed at her. But when she did try to open the
double doors, they wouldn't budge. Her heart began to speed as she realized
that her parents must be in there already, if no one else was allowed in. This
wasn't what was supposed to happen.
*~*~*~*~*
Heero subtly nudged Relena towards the
door, telling her without words to save herself. He knew she was going to worry
about him, and about to refuse, when the gun was suddenly in his face. Shocked,
Relena jumped back, knocking the door open only a bit. 'Door opens from the
inside.'
A small, green bundle hurled itself
inside. It knocked Avalon over quickly, making the gun shoot into the
ceiling. With them both sprawled on the
ground, Heero and Relena quickly recognized the girl to be Aki.
Aki groan, her body throbbing. There was
something wrong, she didn't feel right. But, with the situation quickly coming
back to her, she pushed the odd feelings away, and stood up, glaring at the
older woman fiercely.
"You aren't going to be shooting them
anytime soon." Avalon growled up at her, and used the back of her arm to swipe
Aki away. She fell to the ground, almost crumpling at the force of the hit.
Avalon jumped up quickly, and caught Relena out of the corner of her eye. The
merciless grin was back on her face.
"Don't count on it you little wench."
She raised her gun, just as Aki stood up, and shot.
The next events that occurred made time
seem to slow. Aki stood, and heard a deafening bang.
She leaped Twisting about in midair to
shoot at Avalon, her bullet aimed for her heart, but being redirected when the
impact of landing made a pain flash up her spine, and readjusting her arm.
In the last second, Aki turned, smiling
faintly at her mother, and whispering three little words, "I love you."
The bullet hit her back, making her body
bend before collapsing into her mother's arms. Time resumed its normal pace,
and Avalon stood laughing, and clutching her right shoulder, where Aki's bullet
had hit.
"Poor darling. It appears we won't be
together, after all. Just made the biggest mistake of her life." She smiled, and
ran over to the right wall, hitting a panel and opening a secret compartment
before running into it, and disappearing.
Heero Wanted to chase after her, but the
sight of Aki in Relena's arms made him stay. Aki was his daughter too. He
rushed over and kneeled down beside Relena, who was sobbing into her daughter's
shoulder. But Aki was smiling.
"Please… Mother… don't be sad. Tell
everyone not to be, that I'm going to see Arika again. And," she coughed, blood
spilling out of her mouth as she did so, "kill Avalon next time you see her.
Give her a shot after that, for me." She sat up a but, her gray eyes glowing
happily as tears streaked down her face. She coughed again, making her collapse
right back into Relena's lap.
She touched a hand to the puddle of her
own blood, and studied it. "Isn't it funny how something, as human as blood,
can taste so metallic?" Her eyes darted up to Heero and Relena, and she
continued to smile through her tears. "A world full of irony." And her hand
collapsed, had body went limp, and her chest stopped rising.
But as her eyes closed, Heero swore he
could've seen a flash of blue.
*~*~*~*~*
Wow! That was a long one! Wow, even knowing that she was going to die didn't
really help much, did it? That last scene was why I stuck an angst warning on
the last few chapter. Why do I have the feeling that some of you are ready to
wring my neck? Hey! Aki was my favorite character! I hated to kill her off! But
there's a happy ending! I promise! That's the next chapter! Seven pages, holy
cow!