Last Sanctuary

Last Sanctuary
by Nika


I dialed the number up as soon as I checked into a dinky hotel room under an assumed name, hoping no one would find me. The phone on the other end of the receiver rang once... twice... On the third ring, a man with a deep voice picked up the phone.

"Hello?" he asked.

I stuttered for a moment, not really knowing what to say. "H- hello? I'm looking for someone named Wufei?"

There was silence on the other end for a moment before the voice spoke up again, "And who should I say is calling?"

"My name is Quatre. A man named Duo gave me this number..."

There was a muffled conversation, of which I strained to hear, catching only the last couple of words which included both my name and Duo's. Finally, the man came back on. "Ah, yes, Quatre. We've been expecting your call. Master Wufei has requested your presence tomorrow night. Meet him on the corner of Deep Ellum and 43rd street, in the West End [1] at 8 o'clock, sharp."

"Okay, how will I know--" The only sound left on the other line was a dial tone, indicating that the other man had hung up.

~*~*~*~*

Against my best judgment, I stood and waited at that corner at 8 o'clock, just as the man had told me. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I was almost prepared for anything. I said "almost." What actually did happen was beyond anything I could have expected.

A sleek black car pulled up to the curb in front of me and an older man stepped out of the front, driver's side. "Quatre?" he asked in a raspy voice. I nodded lightly, then he opened the back door for me and I stepped in.

"Oh, its you again," said a voice from beside me. I looked over, and there sat the same man that had shot Trowa. He was dressed similarly to what he had been wearing that day, but his hair was left loose of his severe ponytail.

"You're Wufei?" He smirked at me then pulled out a piece of black cloth. "What's that for?" I asked innocently. I already had an idea what it was going to be used for, but it seemed the right thing to say.

"You, my friend, need to be blindfolded." With that, he reached over and tied the cloth over my eyes. It felt soft, almost like velvet, and I reached up to brush against it with my fingers. He chuckled lightly, then spoke to the driver, indicating that we were ready to leave.

We drove in relative silence. When I tried to explain my situation to him, I could almost /hear/ him smirking as he made noncommittal noises.

Finally we arrived at our destination. I was led out of the car and into a building of some sort, where my blindfold was finally removed.

Inside, we walked along a catwalk to the other side of the building where an office was. Below us, there were some pretty strange things going on. I looked around in awe at the many expensive cars, walls lined with weapons, and people running around doing various tasks.

I looked over at the young Chinese man to my right. He gave me a wide-eyed innocent look, shrugged his shoulders and said, "What?"

I sighed in desperation. What was I getting myself into, I asked myself. He took me into the office, sitting in a large, overstuffed chair behind a desk. "Sit," he said to me, motioning to the other chairs in the room.

"From what I hear," he began. "Duo sent you to me..."

"Uh-huh."

He leaned forward across the desk, locking his eyes onto mine. "Do you know what my helping you would entail?"

"Well, no... not exactly," I replied. It was the truth. I had only come here to see how this guy would help me. I definitely didn't expect to see a warehouse of weapons.

"Well, then. Allow me to explain. You see, I am one of the three leaders of the Clan of the Dragons. We were originally only a small group formed to oppose the established government, but as you can tell, we've... grown quite considerably. And we're established nation-wide, it's really quite exciting." He smiled at this point. "If I were to help you escape from the authorities that are chasing you, it would require an oath from you."

"An oath?" What kind of organization was this? I just needed someone to help me. I didn't need to join some kind of... cult, for lack of better words.

"Yes, an oath to serve me, and my cause, loyally." I sat back in my chair and thought about it for a minute. Was my freedom really that important? I would gain my freedom from the authorities, only to hand it over to a different kind of authority. One that I knew absolutely nothing about. "I can even get that pesky agent off your back."

At this point he snapped his fingers. Two men, wearing black, walked in, pulling Trowa in behind them. They deposited him neatly on the floor in front of me, and he looked up at me with amazingly clear eyes. His hands were tied, and he had been gagged. It was at this point that I realized exactly how powerful Wufei really was.

I dropped to my knees next to Trowa and removed the gag from his mouth. He could only stare at me, probably wondering why I was doing this for him. Trowa turned his head quickly to face Wufei with a menacing look upon his face.

Finally, it hit me. "You're... terrorists?"

This obviously wasn't the right thing to say to him. He was off of his feet in an instant and stared directly at me, fire burning in his eyes. "We're /not/ terrorists," he all but screamed.

"Yes, you are," I insisted. "You are a gigantic cult of terrorists!"

"No we're not!" His hands wrapped around my throat in a death grip. There was no way I could have escaped from this hold and all of Wufei's men just watched and smiled. "We're fighters of righteousness." I grasped at the hands wrapped around my throat. "Got it?"

I nodded my head as much as I could, what with it being in this hold. He abruptly let go of me, and I fell to my knees, coughing violently. I rubbed at the quickly bruising spots on my neck, and Wufei looked at me in mock sympathy.

"Take some time to think about my proposal. I'll have my men escort both you and Mr. Barton out of here."

~*~*~*~*

We were both dropped off at the same spot that I was picked up at. I stepped out onto the sidewalk just as Trowa was purposely dropped onto the ground. His hands were still tied behind his back, so he couldn't really do much about it. I walked over to him and helped him up off the ground, untying his hands while I was at it.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

He looked at me incredulously. "Why are you helping me," he asked. I really had no idea why I was helping him. There was no logical reason for it. Here he was, chasing me down, trying to send me to prison, and here I was, helping him, and hoping that he wasn't hurt.

I guess I didn't want to see him hurt because of me. So, of course, I wouldn't want Wufei to get rid of him. He would probably end up killing Trowa. Which made me wonder why Wufei hadn't killed Trowa when he saw him in Montana.

"What were you doing there in the first place," I asked.

"I was following /you/" he said, taking in a deep breath. God, he was beautiful-- Wait! Why was I thinking this kind of thing? He's the enemy. He wants to see me behind bars. He ran a hand through the thick mass of brown hair and raised one green eye to look at me.

"Oh." That was all I could say. There was nothing that could have expressed my sentiments at that moment, but that one word seemed to say it all. "Why are you so intent on chasing me like this?"

He sat down on the curb of the sidewalk. I was wondering why he wasn't arresting me at that very moment. That's what had happened every time we had met up. "It's my job," he stated. "Besides, you're the only one who's been able to get away from me like this-- except for Chang that is-- and I love the thrill of the chase."

How interesting... This Wufei Chang-guy was also being 'chased' by Trowa. I sat down on the curb next to Trowa, resting my chin in my hands, somewhat immersed in my thoughts. I wondered how long he had been chasing him for and why had he hadn't been caught already.

"Dammit!" The sudden outburst startled me. "Some FBI Agent I turned out to be. I've been tracking Chang for years and I finally find him, evidence incriminating him, /and/ an eye witness, but I have no idea where to find him." He stared at me, searching my face for... something, I'm not quite sure of.

"Don't look at me. I was blindfolded." Trowa was opening up more to me, and I had no idea why, but I didn't want him to stop.

I looked over at him; he was staring straight ahead at the lamp lights across the street. His features had taken on a more gentle tone... not so menacing. So... this is what he looks like when he's not scowling, I thought.

"Why are you telling me all this," I asked him. "And are you planning on arresting me, or what?" I was tired of not knowing what was going on. I wanted things to be settled, and if he wasn't going to arrest me, then I was going to leave before someone else showed up and did.

"We've both had to deal with too much today," he said, looking into my eyes. Those green orbs sparkled with mischief and excitement. "I think you deserve a break from running... at least for a little while. Besides, I can always find you again."

"Hm." I didn't know exactly how to process this information. Here he was, letting me off the hook for the moment, but I found myself not wanting to leave.

"But... I've got a proposition for you." I raised an eyebrow. So /this/ is the real reason he didn't want to arrest me at the moment. I might as well hear him out, I thought. "I'll cut you a deal. If you help me get Chang, I can get your sentence lowered to the minimum amount of time in prison."

"I'm not going to go to jail for /any/ amount of time! I didn't do anything, so I'm /not/ going!" I got up angrily from my place on the curb. He had just assumed that I would readily agree to this. Well, that was /not/ going to happen. I started to walk away, leaving him seated on the curb.

"Wait!" His arms suddenly shot out, grasping my wrist. "Will you at least think about it?"

I sighed. When he looked at me with that look on his face, all my resolve flew out the window. He needed my help, but was helping him really worth it? "I'll think about it," I said, then left, heading back to my motel room.

"I'll find you tomorrow for your answer," he said to my quickly retreating back. I didn't even bother to ask how he would find me. He had been able to find me time and again before, so there was no doubt in my mind that he would find me this time.

***************
[1] This is an actual place in Lancaster, TX. Or is it actually in Dallas? I don't remember, but I /do/ remember that it was fun to hang out around there!

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