Disclaimer: Gee, guess what? I don't own them! ;)
AN: Ahhh! Sorry I haven't posted – I thought fanfiction.net was still out or something…. anyways…. My gosh, this *is* getting long. Eep! But there is an end. And we're getting to it!
Walking The Dividing Line
Part 16
The door flew open to allow Heero Yuy to enter.
I didn't know how long it had been. It could have been ten minutes or it could have been ten hours. I was still standing there, lost in thought – lost in *something* – as he grabbed my arm and I was physically dragged out into the hall for the second time today.
My mind snapped back into the present. *Now* what was going on?!
I found my voice. "…Heero, what's going on? Weren't you just out there –"
"Yes." And he kept dragging me along, down the hall, his hand cool over the spot where, incidentally, Wufei had grabbed me to drag me back to my room.
He dragged me deeper into the complex, down countless halls and down two flights of stairs until we reached the other pilots. I blinked; they were all standing outside a grey, windowless door with a computerized lock on it, flashing green.
Well, all of them except for Duo.
I looked at Trowa, leaning in his usual manner against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, and wondered if he hadn't just been fighting as well. Quatre was standing there looking worried, his mouth tight as he looked at me. Wufei was leaning against the other wall, also with his arms crossed and wearing his usual scowl; he didn't even acknowledge my presence.
Heero stopped, but his grip didn't loosen as he stood there in the hall, looking at the other pilots.
"Here she is," he said flatly. "Now let's decide what to do with her."
I blinked – what?
"Hey, wait a sec – what's going on?" I demanded; Quatre looked up at me, his eyes sparkling with some hidden emotion, and I didn't like the look on his face.
"Zechs has offered to make us a deal," Trowa said calmly, looking up from beneath his bangs, his visible green eye sparkling in the overhead lights. "OZ doesn't want us, or you – they want Giniko back."
"Or so they claim," Wufei said sourly, looking up from the spot on the floor at which he'd been staring this whole time. But he didn't look at me. "I don't trust them."
"Neither do I," Heero said curtly.
"What other choice do we have?" Quatre asked, a twinge of desperation coloring the edge of his voice. "Listen – why don't we just tell her the whole story?"
"What whole story?" I asked, as Wufei shot an angry look towards Quatre, still ignoring the fact that I was even there. Quatre ignored Wufei's stare and went on.
"Zechs says you're as good as dead to OZ," Quatre said, looking at me. "Like Trowa said, he offered us a deal – that he would go back and tell his superiors that you *were* dead. He would leave you here in return for Giniko. And he would give us time to leave."
"But we'd have to give him Giniko," Wufei confirmed; something in his voice indicated that he did not want to do that.
I looked from pilot to pilot, confused. What were they thinking? Why had they dragged me out here – I honestly didn't think it was for my opinion on the matter.
Was it?
"Well," I said, turning to look at Heero, who was staring impassively at a point in the center of the group, "what did you need me for?"
Heero looked up at me, and something in those cold blue eyes told me, 'To trade.' He said nothing out loud, however.
Then his eyes flashed with something else – something softer behind that gaze. Like he was… like he had been faced with a decision and he didn't know what to do about it yet.
I shuddered involuntarily; I knew Heero must have felt it, his hand still a cool shackle on my arm, but his demeanor didn't change in the least. His eyes had gone back to being just cold and hard.
There was silence for a moment more, before Heero spoke. It was not an answer to my question, however.
"I think we should take care of Giniko ourselves," he said matter-of-factly. "I'm not willing to just give her back to OZ. She's more use to us than *she* is," he said, shooting a look at me before going on, "and I don't trust OZ to keep their promise."
"But we're going to have to leave anyway," Quatre put in, looking from me to Heero. "They already know where we are; and I think it's better to let Giniko's own people deal with her. What are you planning on doing – torturing her for more information and then killing her?" His voice rose as he spoke, and those last few words had sounded frantic.
"Hn," Heero replied, neither a conformation nor a dismissal.
"I honestly don't know what the best action to take here is," Trowa said slowly, his voice sounding resigned. "I do think it would be better to get rid of her now, and not risk her involvement in future plans against us. But you already have what you need to know from her; she hasn't told you anything more."
"Maybe we haven't been trying hard enough," Wufei said lowly. "In any case, we can't let what she's done go unpunished. I don't trust that her own people will take care of that. The only way to see justice served is to do it ourselves. I don't trust OZ to give us time to leave, either. Why would Zechs even offer to do that?"
"He didn't seem to agree completely with OZ's ideals," Trowa said softly.
Heero shrugged. "I don't care what he thinks. I still don't trust him."
"So we're back where we began," Trowa said softly. He looked up at me now. "What do you think, Alison?"
I blinked. He was *asking* my opinion?
And more importantly than that, what *did* I think?
"I think…" I said slowly, aware of the four pairs of eyes now trained solely on me as I spoke, "that…" I paused.
I really didn't know what I thought. All I knew was that I didn't want to be near Giniko – that I didn't want to think about her or OZ. I would rather let her own people deal with her, if it would get her away from me and out of my life – and my mind – that much sooner. Nothing I could do would undo what she had done, nothing would ever fix what she had broken. It was pointless to believe otherwise.
I just wanted her to go away.
"You don't know what you think, do you?" Wufei snapped, interrupting my thoughts and I looked up to meet his dark gaze. He pushed himself off the wall, standing up straight, arms still crossed in front of his chest. At least he was looking at me –
"It's pointless to ask you because you're –"
"It is *not* pointless to ask me," I put in, forcefully. I looked up at Trowa. "In fact, I greatly appreciate it. And what I *do* think is that the sooner we get her out of here – the sooner we get rid of her influence, of OZ's influence and you guys start *trusting* each other again – the sooner that happens, well, the better.
"I know I don't want her in my life anymore," I said, almost too softly for myself to hear; I didn't know if anyone else had. My gaze had fallen to the ground.
"She's not the only OZ influence here."
My head shot up, glaring at Wufei. "I am *not* a part of OZ." I told him. "Maybe I was, but I can't remember that. And regardless of anything, I trust you people. Half of you want me dead," my gaze swung to Heero before settling back on Wufei, "and I *trust* you. Because I think you're doing the right thing, and because I think OZ has no place controlling the Earth-sphere or the colonies. But I guess I just really am stupid."
Silence fell, thick and sharp, after my words had ended. I turned away from Wufei, not wanting to look at him any more, glancing at Heero; that softer, less decisive look had returned, and he suddenly turned to look at me.
He sighed, and suddenly his hand was gone. I looked at him, stunned, wondering why he had released me. What was going on?
"Zero told me something. While we were fighting," he said slowly. Quatre looked at him, his gaze questioning; Trowa and Wufei also looked at the brown-haired pilot, curiosity visible in their gazes as well.
Zero… The Zero System? There hadn't been much in Quatre's specs about it at all – the most I had been able to discern was that it was some type of system that affected the pilot, that drew battle lines for him in order to improve performance –
"Zero claims that she is not our enemy," he said, sweeping a hand quickly at me before dropping it again; his words were almost rushed, like someone who didn't quite want to believe what they were saying, but knew they had to say it nonetheless.
Wufei's eyebrows rose, but he said nothing.
"Go on," Trowa prompted softly.
"Zero kept telling me that Giniko was our enemy. That Alison and Duo are not."
"And you trust Zero?" Wufei asked, slight disdain in his tone, but something else there as well, and it wasn't as harsh.
"I don't know whether or not to trust Zero," Heero said darkly. "But I do know one way to find out." He turned to me, and drew his gun. "Kill her," he offered once more.
I blinked at him. This again? Didn't he know -?!
"Heero – I can't."
"And why not? If you really despise OZ as much as you say you do – if you really hate Giniko as much as you should – then *kill* her."
"I *can't*, Heero," I repeated. "Listen – I hate her. She… killed Duo, or at least the Duo I think I knew, and she's obviously tearing the five – four – of you apart. Look at you guys – you can't work like this. You know that as much as I do. But –
"But taking her life isn't going to bring Duo back," I said softly. "Killing her won't undo what she's done. Nothing can. And I know that. Don't," I pleaded. "Please, don't make me kill her."
Wufei glanced at me again, with something almost like… disappointment in those dark eyes of his. It made my stomach churn, to have him look at me like that, and so I looked down at the floor, at my feet instead.
"Duo's fine," Heero said flatly. "And if you won't kill her, then why should I trust you, no matter what Zero says?"
"I know that you won't believe me until I prove myself," I told him. "But I won't kill her. I won't kill *anyone*. I'm sorry. I can't do it; find some other way for me to prove myself to you."
Heero paused for the briefest of instants. "Well, Giniko is my enemy. I know that. And I kill my enemies."
And Heero shoved past Trowa, hitting the panel beside the door. It flashed red and beeped once before the door slid open, revealing –
Revealing Giniko sitting in the middle of the floor, looking pleased with herself. I shook my head slightly; when had she ever looked anything but?
But then the fear struck – I could feel my heart speed up, pounding in my chest, and I could feel my stomach drop and my hands curl into fists. I could hear the static screaming in my head, and I closed my eyes to it, willing it to go away because I couldn't *do* this, not now –
I heard scuffling; I opened my eyes to see Heero holding Giniko, her arms pinned behind her, held there with his left hand. His right hand held his gun to her head, but despite that fact her face showed no fear.
I blinked at her, unable to move, barely able to breathe. My fists only clenched tighter on themselves, until it felt like my bandages would split and my hands would crush themselves from the pressure.
All I could do was stare back at her, fear and anger swirling through my head and swimming in my stomach.
She laughed as Heero held her there. "Going to kill me?"
"Heero –" Quatre said weakly; I could tell he didn't want to see him kill her, and somehow I didn't blame him. Trowa stood there, staring at Heero with a calm but definitely not passive gaze. Wufei looked almost amused, his sharp gaze watching Heero's trigger finger intently.
"And you," Heero said, mouth close to her ear, voice low and menacing, "What should we do with you?"
"Hm," Giniko murmured, turning her gaze so that it caught mine – I felt like she was tearing something out of me with that look. "Having trouble deciding, are we? What does *she* say?" She indicated me with a nod of her head, and the anger only rose hotter in my gut.
"What she says doesn't matter," Heero growled into her ear, pressing the barrel of his gun harder into her temple.
Giniko only smiled wider. "Well then," she said slowly, "God knows you don't need both of us. One whore is enough, don't you think?"
I blinked – I could feel the heat rising in my face, and the anger rising past the fear, running like fire through my blood. How dare she – how *dare* she call me a –
"And here I thought you'd hate her more than me, now," she was still talking. "I mean, come on, look at what she's done to you all. Look at how you can't trust her – you can't turn your back for a second on that one." And she smiled her icy smile, and suddenly I wanted to wipe it right off her face.
"She is not the topic here," Wufei said curtly, walking towards the doorway and stopping just outside it, blocking Giniko from my view so that all I could see was half of Heero and Wufei's back.
"Oh, but isn't she always? And I see she's gotten herself a new boy, hasn't she?" She craned her neck to look around Wufei's form and smiled up at me. "You're fast, aren't you?"
I felt like I was going to explode. Right then and there.
