"Calm---"
"Don't you dare tell me to calm down!!!" he screamed. "If that were Trudy? Would you???"
Bray sighed and shook his head slowly.
"Speaking of which, we don't got much time..." Ryan said quietly.
"Chloe... little Chloe..." Selene sobbed.
"Shhhhh..." Ryan soothed, rubbing her back gently.
"I hope at least KC and Pats are okay..." she sniffled.
"Yeah, me too..." Lex said softly, almost inaudibly...
~*~
Jaffa walked into Trudy's room and she shrieked.
"Get out!"
"The act of nursing is perfectly natural---"
"Doesn't mean I want witnesses! GET OUT!"
Jaffa sighed.
"Supreme Mother... All will be well soon..."
"If you think you're getting laid by me you're nuts..."
"Oh, I don't think you have any choice... especially once we fashion the shackles..."
~*~
Billy Boy threw Gwen into a room and told the guards to watch her, telling Top Hat to leave her for now.
"There's time for that later, Toppy..." he smirked, walking towards the kids' room.
"Hello, little girl..." Billy Boy smirked, chucking Patsy under the chin.
Patsy whimpered and ran behind KC.
"Leave her alone; she's done nothing to you---"
"Lex's baby brother... yes... you have your brother's temperment, boy... Something we're going to enjoy breaking you of..." Top Hat sneered.
"If he lives that long..." Billy Boy added.
Patsy clutched to KC from behind and he glared up at them, hoping he looked menacing enough. He'd practiced Lex's looks, but with his young face it was hard to master, especially when he was outnumbered and they were so much bigger...
Billy Boy snapped for some guards to come in, and they helped Top Hat grab the struggling KC, as Billy Boy grabbed a squirming Patsy and slung her over his shoulder.
"Don't be a naughty little girl..." he warned.
"GET OFF HER! LET GO!" KC screamed.
Lex's head snapped up from downstairs, wondering if it was Gwen KC was screaming on behalf of, then he saw Billy Boy decending the stairs with Patsy...
"S-Sh-shackles?" Trudy's voice seemed to get caught in her throat. "What- what are those for?"
Jaffa smirked. Submission would soon come, and it would be so very easy this time. And with Bray as a witness... it could not get any better. "Just as a precaution," he said, walknig over and running a hand down her cheek. "in case you have ideas of escape." He smirked as he stepped away from her. "Power and chaos is meant to be, Supreme Mo-"
Trudy's anger exploded. She picked up a vase and threw it at Jaffa's head. "GET OUT!"
~*~
"We have the keys..."
"...and we could let you out..."
"...but then Billy would be pissed."
Bray sighed, and looked back at Lex, who had started to try and pick the look at a request of Ryan. The Smile obviously wasn't going to be a big help anytime soon, and they needed out now. Before something happened to Patsy.
"Just help us, you dimwitted-" Ellie's would-be rant was cut off as Alice's hands slapped over her mouth. "SHHHHH," Alice told her. "They might actually give someone the keys."
"But Gwen always helped us..."
"...even when Billy said we couldnt' sing..."
"...and she told us we were good."
~*~
"Oh, come on. You guys know me," Gweb said to the gaurd, propping herself up on her elbows.
"That's exactly why we're watching you like hawks."
"Come on, How-"
The guard pointed a sword at Gwen's throat. "My name now is Sir Laughs A Lot," he told her, smirking. He nodded to the guard at the door, not noticing Gwen picknig up a lamp behind him. "I don't think Billy and Top Hat would mind SO much if we had a bit of our OWN fun before they came back for her." When he turned back around, she was all smiles. "What're you so happy about?"
Gwen just smiled. "Come closer and I'll tell you." She watched the guard set down his weapon and walk closer. "Closer." He stepped closer. "Still, too far away." When he was a little less than an arm's length from her, she broke the lamp over his head. He fell across her lap. "Okay, too close." She pushed him off, and grabbed his sword.
The second guard on Gwen ran in after hearing the commotion. He looked from Gwen with the sword, to "Sir Laughs A Lot" on the floor, out cold. He rushed forward, but Gwen ducked out of the way, and he rammed through a window, fallnig down three stories.
"Well boys," Gwen said, looking from the dead guard to the one she had knocked out, "I think it's time for me to take my leave of you." She looked at her reflection in the mirror. "Goodbye, Jackals, hello Mallrats."
~*~
"What was that?" Top Hat questioned, hearing the commotion and break of the window. "You dont' think she actually managed to escape, do you?"
Billy scoffed. "Gwen?" he scoffed again for good measure. "We've gotten her to submit to the point where she wouldn't dare try a thin- OW!"
"Looks like she's a little too much for you, huh Billy?" Lex said, smirking. bray smacked his arm as Patsy was caught by a few guards, and dragged back, kicking and screaming, to Billy and Top Hat.
"Sorry Lex, sooner or later, everyone submits to Billy Boy."
"Wanna bet?" a voice said from above them.
"Don't be stupid, Gwen..." Billy Boy warned.
Lex motioned for her to "shhhh" as he finished with the lock and slipped up behind the guards with the rest of the mallrats.
And, the battle was on.
Lex klonked the two guards holding Patsy's heads together and hefted her up.
"Miss me, twerp?" he grinned, tossing her off to Selene, who hurried out of the way with her.
Gwen was cornered by Billy Boy and Top Hat, but her expression remained neutral as Lex slipped up behind Top Hat and broke his neck. Billy Boy took to running, Gwen close at his heels with a metal tool Lex handed her saying "all yours".
Trudy, still at the top of the stairs with Jaffa, took the opportunity to grab him by the hair and knee him in the groin, causing him to roll down the stairs, barreling over a few guards as he went, clutching himself painfully, until he finally cracked his head on the fountain...
Lex was starting to actually enjoy the fight, letting out a rebel-yell and kicking some major ass, Ryan at his side, until he got a funny feeling and his face darkened, suddenly racing up the stairs.
Ryan frowned, but followed him, and then he saw... three guards... standing over KC...
~*~
Morning came slowly. When the sun rose everyone was tired, and surrounded by dead bodies. But, they were too exhausted to clean it up now...
KC sat under Lex's protective arm, cradling his left arm painfully. Patsy was huddled in Selene's lap, and Trudy just kept rocking Brady and singing to her over and over again, as if she didn't even realize it...
"This... we gotta clean up?" Bray said weakly.
"Get the prisoners to do it." Lex snapped wearily. "Make 'em, I don't care... San? You wanna let's get a look at kiddo's arm here?"
"Um, sure, Lex..." Tai-San nodded as Lex followed her, half-carrying KC.
"He's upset."
"We all are, Gwen!" Trudy snapped.
Gwen bit her lip.
"I know... I'm sorry..." she said, her lip starting to tremble.
"Oh, for... Calm down? We don't blame you, if that's what you're thinking?" she sighed.
"How could you not?"
"Because we know it wasn't your fault." Ellie said simply.
"Yeah, c'mon, Gwen... ease up on yourself?"
"Yeah, and I wouldn't go blaming myself in front of Lex anymore?"
"Why not?" she asked dully.
"Because he likes you, but if you say ever again you regret saving KC, that he's still aro---"
"No! I didn't mean it like that!"
"But, that is what you said..." Jack pointed out.
"Jack! Leave Gwen alone---"
"No, Ellie, she did say that? I'm just trying to help her?"
"He's right..." Ryan nodded. "Yeah, cause, like I said, Lex really likes you..."
"But if he thinks I think..."
"Exactly."
~*~
"Filthy cowards... three big guys... one little shrimp..." Lex was muttering as he paced, watching Tai-San splint KC's arm and fashion a sling for it.
"Lex, calm down, they have paid?"
Lex growled but quieted, putting a hand on top of KC's head.
"I'm okay; I was the one who was tryin' to fight 'em to get out of the room..." KC admitted. "Just wasn't fast enough..."
"Doesn't usually matter how fast ya are if you're outnumbered, kid." Lex sighed, pulling him a bit closer by the hand on his forehead.
"But, I wanted to get to Patsy? I couldn't help and---"
"You did the best you could; you did just fine. Patsy's fine..."
~*~
"Trudy?"
"GET OU-" Trudy put the shoe she had poised to throw down. "Oh, Bray, it's you."
Bray nodded. "What'd that shoe ever do to you?" he joked, receiving a small smile. "How are you girls?"
Trudy kept her arms around Brady as she leaned against Bray, his arms wrapping around them. "Better, now that you're here." She looked up at him. "What about the Guar-"
"He was the first to go into the ground, we made sure of that."
~*~
"Things are different with Ellie and Alice's sister here," Patsy said to KC, as they muched on some snacks. "She's pretty, and smart, and -"
"Regrets saving me."
Patsy's eyes went wide. "No way, KC. She wouldn't have helped us win if she did."
"You two hush now," Alice said, looking at Ellie running off somewhere with Jack. "Read about it in The Amulet."
~*~
"But Ryan -"
"No buts, Selene, we tell them. You're going to start showing and then what will we do?"
"Tell them then?"
Ryan sighed, and hugged Selene to him. This marriage was going to be hard, but he wanted Salene and the baby. More than he ever thought you could want something.
~*~
"Uh, Lex?"
Lex was smoking on the balcony when he heard Gwen's voice behind him. "What?"
"I - I just wanted to say -"
"What? That you're sorry?" He stubbed out his cigarette, and nearly winced when he grabbed her hands and she cringed. "It wasn't your fault."
"I know..."
"KC's worried about Patsy." He saw Gwen's mouth trying to break into a small smile. "See? I knew that would help. But you're sorry you saved -"
"Never. He's an innocent. He didn't do anything." She looked up finally, her eyes looking liek glass. "Lex, they wouldn't have agreed to fight if I hadn't run."
Lex put a gentle arm around her.
"Shush now... none of it was your fault..."
"But, if I'd've just---"
"It's over? You've got us now... you've got me now..."
"I... I do?"
"I love you, Gwen..." he breathed, cupping her face gently and leaning down to capture her mouth.
She tried not to wince as she felt his soft lips on her bruised ones, but cupped his face, too, to keep him in place as she saw him noticing and start to move back...
~*~
Bray kept his arms around them both, sighing, and rested his chin atop Trudy's head.
"Trud?"
"Yes, Bray?"
"You wanna get married?"
"M-married?"
"Yeah, like... tomorrow?"
"Oh, Bray, I---"
And, she almost jumped up and threw herself into his arms, if she hadn't've remembered the baby in her lap, so she smiled widely and nodded, reaching up behind him to stroke his jaw gently...
~*~
"Jack, stop it? We can't make out--- we have to work..."
"El, this isn't old times? We're not getting paid; no one's gonna fire us..."
"But people need the truth..."
"Yeah, well there's something I need right about now?"
~*~
KC slipped outside and back inside quickly when he saw Lex and Gwen kissing.
He sighed and decided to go back to where Patsy was.
"Feeling better, KC?" she wanted to know.
"Um, sure, Pats... yeah..."
"I don't believe you... you're actin' funny..."
"I'm fine... I'm just tired?" he sighed.
"Oh, okay..." she said quietly.
KC sighed and laid back into his bed.
"Things are never gonna be the same again..." he thought. "She's gonna marry him, and then it's all over... Doesn't want me... she'll just take him and go..."
"KC, are you sure you're okay?"
"Y-yeah, Patsy fine..." he said, putting a smile on.
"Can't let anyone know--- Lex deserves at least not to have things spoiled for him this time... I'll miss him, but if she makes him happy..." he thought, melonchololy...
~*~
"What were you doing?" Tai-San asked, as Gwen wandered into her room, "Your lips look twice as bad as they did before?"
Gwen covered them with her hand, touching them slightly. "I probably just pursed them too hard?" she said, hoping Tai-San would believe her. "Really?"
"Sure, whatever you say... so when's the wedding?"
"W-Wedding?"
"Yeah, people usually do that when they love each other."
"Wait, who said anything about loving Lex?"
Tai-San smirked. "I never mentioned Lex."
~*~
"Salene!" Trudy ran into Salene and Ryan's room, after dropping Brady off with Alice.
Salene looked up from the book she was reading about baby names, sticking it under a pillow, and saw a grinning Trudy. "What happened?"
"I'm getting married!"
"About damned time, Trudy!"
"SALENE!"
~*~
"Hey Patsy," Lex said, as he walked into the kids' room. Which had more room now that Cloe was gone, a thought that saddened even Lex. May's room was going to Gwen, he had told Bray, if she chose to stay. Bray had just smirked and gone to check on Trudy and Brady. "Can I talk to KC?"
Patsy nodded, and got off her bed. "Sure Lex," she replied, picknig up the end of Cloudy's leash. "Come on, Cloudy."
KC turned away from Lex. "I'm reading."
"No you're not."
"I don't want to talk, Lex."
"I know but you'll at least listen?"
"Don't you think I know what's gonig to happen?" KC sat up, and turned to Lex. "You're gonig to marry her, and she already said she wants to leave. Back to her precious farm..."
"But you, me, and.."
"...Zandra. Remember her? The one you said you'd love forever?"
Lex flinched visibly.
"I know you loved Zan..."
"Yeah, and it hasn't even been a year, Lex!"
Lex sighed.
"I know, KC, but---"
"But what?"
"It doesn't matter if it's been ten years, it won't make her more or less dead."
KC made a face.
"I know that, Lex, but you said you loved her. That it was always. She loved us both, and she wouldn't like this."
"You've been listening to Tai-San too much, hearing spirits..."
"That's not it---"
"Then what is it?!"
"Because you're gonna go with her, and I'll never see you again!" he blurted out.
~*~
Trudy, Patsy and Selene were down in the dress shoppe, picking out dresses for the occassion.
"Ohhhh... Trudy..." Selene breathed.
Trudy held up a dress of violet silk against her, smiling at the contrast against her creamy skin. It was floor-length, long and swishing. The bodice was form-fitting, with a scoop neck, and no sleeves; just a strap that went up and around the back of her neck. It was backless, with a pulled in waist, and matching silk gloves that went up to her elbows.
"Oh, it's so pretty..." Patsy said in awe.
"Got a boquet?"
Trudy grinned and gestured to Brady, showing Selene this little creamy lace dress, with little rosebuds embroidered all over it.
"Awwww, that'll be so adorable... What about shoes?"
Trudy held up then a pair of clear heels; all iridescent and sparkly.
"Just like Cinderella..." Patsy said, eyes wide and shining...
~*~
"What do you mean she's gone?" Lex barked at Tai-San during dinner. "I have to talk to her!"
Tai-San looked at Alice and Ellie, both people she had told about Gwen's decision to go see Zandra's grave. They were her sisters. She never though that Lex would... "She went to do something important, Lex," she explained, "and she can't have you mucking this up for her."
"Where did she go, Tai-San?"
"I don't know... you'd go after her."
"Damn straight, she shouldnt' be going anywhere alone!"
Ellie glared at Lex. "Are you trying to say my sister can't take care of herself?"
"Ellie, Tai-San won't tell me where she went, I'm jsut worried something really bad will happen to her!"
Ellie looked at Alice. Who looked back at her. "Oh in that case," Alice said, "the people who need to know do know, Lex."
KC's eyes suddenly went wide looking at Tai-San. "You told her about Zandra!" he exclaimed in such a moment of silence that everyone looked at him. Except Tai-San, who was sighing.
That's when Lex really lost it. "SHE WENT TO EAGLE MOUNTAIN?"
"Lex, she didn't want -"
"I don't care, Tai-San! You should have MADE her take you! Or Alice, or even Ellie! It's dangerous up there!"
"She needed to be alone Lex..."
"....because she needs to make sure she covers all her bases..."
"...but I don't think she'd have gone alone unless she knew she'd be okay."
"WHAT ARE YOU THREE STILL DOING HERE?!"
~*~
"I have to do this," Gwen told herself, as she looked at the map Tai-San had given her. "If I don't... it coudl lead to problems."
Just then, a rain cloud burst open.
"Oh yeah, that gives me real encouragement to keep going..." Sometimes I wonder
if I'm ever gonna make
it home again.
It's so far
and out of sight.
I really need someone
to talk to,
and, nobody else
knows how to comfort me tonight.
As the storm began to rage, Gwen finally made it up the mountain, to a little dome, outside which was two make-shift markers.
She sat between them, not sure which was which, and shivered in the torrential rain.
"Zandra? Whichever one you are..."
Suddenly, she heard a voice carried by the wind, a soft voice...
As she began to follow it, the raining was letting up, and the place was starting to look different--- warmer...
"Look into the future, what do you see? I really need to know now, is there a place for me? Tell me where do we go from here? Take me as you find me, for what I am. And, when I make mistakes, please, understand. And, as long as I know you're near, there is nothing for me to fear. Out of the darkness, a light shines. Burning through the coldest night. And, we can find a way.Together we'll make it. With every step we take, we'll move closer together. If we're gonna survive, the dream must stay alive. Alive..."
She looked on in shock as she saw the calm-looking girl, singing to an infant in a stroller. She was quite beautiful, Gwen mused, with her soft-looking two-toned hair, and her sweet face...
"Hello, you must be Gwen..." she said, looking up briefly from the child.
"How---- how'd you know my name?" Gwen demanded.
"You did come to see us, after all..."
Snow is cold,
rain is wet.
Chills my soul
right to the marrow.
I won't be happy
till I see you
alone again.
Till I'm home again
and feelin' right.
"What is this? A community treck?" Lex grumbled.
"We're a tribe; we all agreed to go, Lex." Bray said, adjusting Brady on Trudy's pack.
"Yeah, we won't leave ya, bud." Ryan assured, clapping him on the shoulder.
"We're going to make it back to the mall, aren't we?" Patsy asked timidly.
"Well, we did last time..."
"Yes, sweetheart, we're going back... don't worry..." Trudy sighed, loathing to mention the achiness within her, the queasiness she felt, and the worry of bringing Brady out into this, despite the fact that she was buried in her coat...
Snow is cold,
rain is wet.
Chills my soul
right to the marrow.
I won't be happy
till I see you alone again.
Till I'm home again
and feelin' right.
I wanna be home again
and feelin' right...
Gwen took a deep breath, brushing her hair out of her face. "I'm not hallucinating this," she said, "right?"
"Of course not," Zandra smiled, "you made it here in less time than anyone expected. The storm was to see how dedicated you were."
"Well, I made it." She looked down at herself. "Barely." She cleared her throat and looked back up. "Speaking of which, I came to talk to you about something..."
~*~
"We should have left the kids back at the mall," Lex grumbled, looknig at Bray, who was helping Trudy and Brady along. "The baby could get sick, and Trud doesn't look that great either."
Trudy harumphed. "Gee thanks, Lex," she said, "see if I agree to come next time..."
"SHHH," Ellie said, ducking behind a rock, others going behind trees. "I see her."
Bray and Ryan looked at each other and dragged Lex behind a rock. "Lex, you have to let her do this by herself," Ryan told him, as he looked like he was about to go and rush off ater her.
~*~
"...well, more specifically, Lex."
Zandra nodded, and smiled. "I know."
"He's going to yell when I get back, but I had to do this. To make sure you don't hate me. I didn't know about you... and maybe it wouldn't have stopped me, but I do want him. He said he loved me."
"I know that..."
"...and about the farm, I love that too. I was born there, raised, and then taken from it." She looked down at her feet. "I can't take them from the mall."
"Them?"
"KC and Lex." She looked back up. "I've made mistakes, but Lex will protect that boy with his life. Forever. I won't jeapordize that."
"I see..."
"I have two sisters, and I don't want to leave them. They're at the mall."
"Why exactly did you come here, Gwendolyn?"
"Because I want to make sure you believe me when I say he'll never forget you, that he will always love you, and..." She looked at the stroller. "...and the baby, whether it is girl or boy. He will, but I love him too. I really do, Zandra." She swallowed, feeling tears trying to drop out of her eyes. "And if you don't want me to try to make a life with him, tell me so, and I will back off."
Zandra gave her this little purse-lipped look and rolled her eyes.
"You really make it hard on yourself, don'tcha?"
"Ex---"
"No, no, honey... worrying causes wrinkles..."
Gwen puckered her brow in confusion, causing Zandra to laugh, like the sound of windchimes.
"Sweetie? You're alive, ain'tcha?"
"Well, yeah..."
"If I didn't approve, I'd zap your ass and make you spontaneously combust?"
~*~
"What's she doing?" Ellie whispered harshly.
KC frowned, starting to fidgit.
"You idiot!" Ellie yelled at Lex. "This is all your fault!"
"My fault?!"
"If not for---"
"What? Because he was married before? He didn't tell her about where Zan was, and he has a right to have been married before, ya---"
Selene snaked a hand over KC's mouth and yanked him back to her.
"Calm down?" she advised.
Lex watched her, just standing there, confused.
"What the bloody hell is she doing?!"