***
Part III
***
Trowa
stepped off to one side of the room watching the man. Long platinum hair fell
down past broad shoulders. Azure eyes watched him silently. He turned his eyes
from the man, to take in the room. No windows, one bed, a table and a chair.
"Who are you?" he asked, glancing back at the man.
The
stranger remained silent. Trowa looked into the azure eyes and repeated his
question. "Who are you?"
An
eyebrow rose slightly and then the man lifted his hands from his sides and
signed. Trowa looked down at the hands, then up again. "Miriald?" A
nod. "Do you have a last name?" he asked. Miriald shook his head no.
"You can't talk?" Another nod and a faint sigh, that was really
nothing more than a release of air.
Trowa
frowned faintly thinking. "How long have you been here?"
The
slim hands signed /How long have I been in this room or how long I've been in
this place/
"Both
if you can remember."
A
nod and the hands began again. /I've been in this room for I think five years./
A
pause and the hands moved again. /I've been in this building for ten years/
Another
pause and the eyes seemed to narrow slightly.
/I used to be able to speak before I was
brought here/
Trowa
saw the anger through the motions and the others expression and sighed watching
him a moment before speaking. "What happened?"
/Accident/
A
snort of disgust followed the signing.
/I
was riding in the place I used to live and something spooked the horse, it
reared but I held on and calmed it down. We continued on and then something
scared it again and instead of rearing it bolted/
Another silent sigh.
/ The horse tripped as it hit a ditch and it
fell /
/since
I had no warning I fell with it /
A
pause and the hands shook a little before Miriald calmed and then
continued.
/I
was injured when the horse tried to pick itself up/
A
hand lifted itself to rub at the throat for a moment as if in remembered pain.
/I
over heard the doctors say I was lucky that the blow didn't crush my windpipe
or break my neck./
/I
don't believe that the horse caused this though /
The
eyes shifted downwards. "You think someone caused the accident as a
cover?"
Miriald
nodded. / The people who raised me told me we had enemies/
/ That was the reason we moved from where I
grew up to the place where I had the accident /
/ I was 5 or 6 when it happened , the move.
My nanny was crying as were the rest of the servants /
/ I asked her what was wrong but she never
told me, except to say that they had enemies now and had to leave the county/
/After the accident I was brought here, I
don't know what happened to her /
Trowa
silently took the information in and tried to plot a timeline. If his guess was
correct Miriald was 23, taking ten years off that, he must of been at least 13
when his voice was taken away. That would of been before Operation Meteor. He
shook his head free of the thoughts and then looked back up at Miriald.
"Did
you have any brothers, any siblings?" he asked.
Miriald
shook his head. / None that I know of /
Trowa
glanced at the door, then back at the blonde. "Would you come with me? Out
of here?" he asked as he walked towards the door and opened it a little
wider. Miriald nodded and walked over to him and slipped out of the door
looking around the dimly lit hallway. Trowa followed him out and shut the door.
Taking a moment to get the map he had used to get here back he then began to
lead the way back out of the hall towards the station.
*
Heero
glared at the nurse sitting behind the desk before turning away and facing the
older man leaning silently against the wall behind him. "She said she
doesn't know where the others went." he said as he walked towards Treize.
"And she won't tell me where the damn doctor is either."
"Ah..
perhaps I could help?" Treize said softly glancing down at him.
Heero
looked up at him. "How so?"
"Well,
I do know where *one* of the doctor's offices is.. I've been brought to it
often enough."
"Alright,
show me then. " He said glaring once more at the nurse as Treize
straightened up and began to lead the way through a door in the right hallway,
that led to another hallway. He almost ran into the ex-general though when the
man stopped suddenly. "What's wrong?" he asked walking to stand
beside Treize.
Treize
didn't respond and he saw the reason for his state.
Wind
stood a couple feet away also frozen like Treize watching them silently.
*
Wind
had not expected him to look so haggard, but it was him. His eyes took in the
longer hair that covered part of his face and the loose clothing. Slowly he
shook the shock off and closed the distance between them raising a hand to
lightly touch Treize's face.
Treize's
eyes closed and he leaned into the touch silently. Without thinking Wind pulled
him closer and held him in his arms, feeling Treize's wrap around him as well.
He closed his eyes against the sudden surge of emotion as well to block the
sudden tears that had come to his eyes. "I knew you were alive.. I was
right." he whispered softly.
After
a couple minutes they pulled back and he looked down at Treize who sighed
softly. "Yes, you were right.. I'm here. Dorothy said you.. needed my
help. What did she mean by that may I ask?" Treize asked quietly watching
him.
"I'll
explain later, but for now everything is going good. I just came from speaking
with the doctor. " he said turning slightly to glance down the hallway. "
Duo is supposed to convince him to tell us what we need to know.."
Heero
glanced down the hall and back at him. "You left the baka with the
doctor?" he said raising an eyebrow slightly.
He
couldn't stop the small smile that came. "Yes, he said something about
practicing his dentistry on him, to encourage him to be more truthful and
talkative."
*
"Lets
see.. if I understand you correctly. Supposedly this man came to you with a kid
that just happens to look exactly like Wind and you never asked him why he
wanted you to hide him here? You think I was born yesterday?" Duo said as
he glanced at the Doctor who shook his head rapidly holding the back of his
hand over his mouth. "Then why are trying to feed this shit? I know you
know more than you're letting on, so spill it or do you want to lose some more
teeth?"
The
Doctor's eyes widened slightly again and he shook his head again, before
lowering his hand a bit. "I'm telling you the truth.."
"That
may be but you're not giving the whole truth.. so spill or spit another tooth,
which is it?"
The
older man stepped back away from him quickly. "Alright! He said if the kid
was found that to put it bluntly shit would hit the fan. There was only
supposed to two heirs to the throne, but there was one that no one knew about.
Twins are apparently bad news in a monarchy, so they kept the older of the two
and sent the younger away right after he was born to be taken by a trusted
person."
"You
said kid not newborn."
"I
know I did.. that just what the guy said. But he said that it was now too
dangerous to have him running loose so steps had been taken to ensure that the
boy was ....I can't remember the exact word he used but when we received him,
he had just come from a hospital and couldn't speak. One of the nurses taught
him sign language which she wasn't suppose to.." he trailed off at the
dark look he got from braided Preventer.
"That's
enough for now on that, you can 'fess up more when Wind gets back about that.
Now the bands what are they and how the hell do you take them off?"
"A
security measure.. we had people put in here that sometimes wouldn't stay in
here where they were supposed to.. its an action to keep them here and prevent
them from being taken away or sneaking out."
Duo
crossed his arms across his chest. "Go on.. what about that silver thing
on them?"
"A
small tracking monitor, its signal is constantly sent out to the master
computer here and relayed back. If the signal is halted for any reason it
...well .. action is taken to deter the person from whatever they are doing to
block it."
"So
blowing off a person's arm is an acceptable action to 'deter' a person
hmm?"
The
Doctor hesitated and his mouth opened and closed for a couple minutes before he
finally gave up on responding. The door opened then and he nodded once at Wind
and lifted an eyebrow as he watched Heero and another person enter the room.
The stranger closed the door and turned around. "Shit.. so I take it you
found him ne?" he asked, eyes taking in the ragged appearance of the
former general. Somehow it seemed that all he needed was a change of clothes
and a hair cut to look more formable again. He turned his attention back to
Wind.
"What
have you found while I was gone?" Wind asked as he sat down in one of the
chairs, one arm absently wrapping itself around Treize's waist when the older
man had sat down on the arm of the chair.
Duo
glanced at Heero, but he was staring at the doctor glaring silently, so he
looked back to Wind. "Well, besides his good fish imitation he's given
some stuff on those 'nifty' bands and a load of what I so far think is
bullshit. I'll let you decide on that though."
Wind
glanced at the doctor. "How many teeth did you have to work on to get
that?"
Duo
grinned and sat down on the desk again, looking down at it. "Let's see..
" he twisted around and picked something up from behind him. "Looks
like around five.." he tossed the teeth back on the desk.
Wind
shifted in his seat and glanced at the doctor. "So.. how do you remove one
of these?" he asked him taking Treize's arm in one hand and raising the
sleeve to reveal the black band with it's silver disk.
The
doctor fidgeted for a moment then walked towards him slowly. "I'd have to
tell the master computer to shut this monitor off and then.." he
hesitantly reached for Treize's wrist and turned it over to look at the
backside of the band. ".. run a blade down the band to remove it."
Heero
straightened up. "Where's this computer at?" he asked.
The
Doctor looked up at him and flinched slightly at the cold glare he received.
"It's down this hall behind the .." the doctor's voice trailed off.
"Why do you want to know?" he asked.
Heero
ignored the man and turned towards Wind. "I'll be back." He opened the
door and then left the room.