Disclaimer: Still not mine… sigh

Disclaimer: Still not mine… sigh

AN: Again, sorry for taking so long! More soon I promise! And I'm working on a 4th story… if anyone cares, that is… ;O

Walking The Dividing Line

Part 17

"Shut up," Wufei said bluntly, and before I could blink he'd reached out and slapped her – at least, that was my best guess, as the sharp sound rang through the air and her face slammed to the side, out of view once more.

Quatre winced and glanced up at Trowa.

"Heero," Trowa said, but made no move. I saw Heero glance up at Trowa.

"We either take care of this now, or we take care of it later. But I'm not handing her back to OZ."

"You still want to kill me, don't you, Yuy?" I heard her cold voice from behind Wufei; Heero's face was tight but did not change. "You never said – does *Alison* think you should kill me?"

Yes – yes I did –

I wanted her gone. Out of my life. Her death would certainly do that. As I looked at Heero, still holding the gun to her head, I realized that all I felt was the hot, seething anger she'd prompted racing through me.

I wondered suddenly if I *couldn't* kill her. Maybe Heero was right –

That scared me.

"That is none of your concern," I heard Heero tell her, his voice low and even his anger was beginning to show. She could do that, I thought. She could bring out the anger in anyone, she was *so* –

"You think I'm going to tell you anything else?" Giniko suddenly asked, her voice full of disdain and half-crazed anger. "Why *should* I? If you're not going to let me go then I'm not going to tell you anything –"

"Then I'm going to kill you, right here," Heero growled.

"Do it," she dared him. "Go on – I'm not afraid of death; he's quite the lover. Almost better than your friend."

I heard him cock his gun.

What the *hell* had she meant by that?! I could remember Duo hanging over her, manipulated to the point where he didn't do anything unless she told him to do it first. Somehow, despite the fact that recalling Duo's face only brought a cold sort of anger with it, she was only making me angrier now.

But apparently she'd hit something in Heero as well. His face clearly showed his anger now. Wufei took a step forward, walking into the room and my line of sight was clear – I could see Heero holding Giniko, her hands still behind her, gun still to her temple.

"Do it, Yuy," she hissed again. "Or are you afraid?"

Quicker than I could follow, the hand pinning her wrists moved to her neck, grabbing her almost as if to choke her even as the barrel of his gun pressed harder into her pale skin.

But now her hands were free –

In a flash she had grabbed the arm encircling her neck, digging her nails in and taking advantage of Heero's momentary surprise to fling his hold off. Before he could move she swung a roundhouse kick aimed at his hand – the gun clattered away and hit the wall of the room, a metallic *clang* resounding throughout the room.

This was bad – this was so bad, if she got free –

Heero regained his senses, however, and delivered a punch of his own to her midsection, throwing her backwards towards the door. She stopped; Wufei took a step forward but suddenly she turned and grinned at me.

I froze. For all the anger seething through my veins, I could do nothing as her pale arms suddenly grabbed me, one arm wrapped firmly around my waist, pinning my arms to my sides; the other snaked around my head, her lithe fingers pressing against my face, her hand covering my cheek and ready to snap my neck in one quick motion –

"Now," she said, and I could hear the smile in her voice, "let's talk."

I looked up to see that Heero had retrieved his gun, now he slowly raised it, leveling it with Giniko's head. The anger still shone brightly on his face; it did now on Wufei's as well, as he stood beside Heero, glaring at Giniko, dark eyes as sharp as daggers, arms close to his sides and hands balled into fists. I couldn't see Trowa or Quatre, standing behind me, but I couldn't hear any movement from them either.

"Looks like you boys have a choice to make," she said smoothly; the arm around my middle pulled me tighter against her body, yanking against my broken ribs and suddenly I saw red spots. My mind reeled for a moment before coming back to rest in the seemingly too-bright hallway, with her arms still around me and her hand still on my face.

"You still seem to like this one."

I was not going to take this. I was *not* going to let this happen again. Not when I had only just begun all over again, when I had only just maybe had a chance to stay here, with them –

No.

Above me, Giniko was still speaking. "Which one of us, eh? Or maybe it's all or nothing – don't give me that look, Yuy, you know I could snap her neck before you could shoot me."

"Bitch," Wufei spat. "Are you so afraid to die alone?"

"I told you," she said calmly, "I'm not afraid of death. But maybe *she* still is…"

She yanked on my midsection again, causing not only more pain but forcing the air out of my lungs; I gasped and I couldn't even think let alone *do* something about this, and the anger only surged hotter –

"Liar," I heard Wufei say above me. "You're a damned liar – you *are* afraid of death."

If I had been thinking clearly at all, I might have wondered why he sounded so angry –

"Shut *up*." The hand on my face suddenly yanked, hard, and my head was snapped to the side. Not hard enough to break my neck, but she held it there, painfully extended, and all it would take now was the slightest twitch of her fingers –

"Now," she said, craning her face downwards until I could feel her breath dancing along my ear, along my cheek, "give me what I want and you can have your little whore back."

The red was welling up before my eyes, but I didn't know whether it was from pain or anger. Or both. But I was not – I *could* not – stand for this –

"And what the hell do you want?" Heero asked lowly, the gun never wavering, still trained on her head. Wufei's eyes narrowed until they became only two dark slits in his pale face, features contorted with anger just as Heero's had become.

"Just my freedom," she said, as if she were asking for something much simpler. "And my Duo."

Heero blinked.

"Oh, come on," she said lowly, pressing her cheek to my temple, "You know he's mine. Just like she is. She's mine, too – her life is mine, I've already killed her once. All I have to do is move, and I'll be sure to make it more permanent this time."

She paused.

"You belong to *me*," she whispered, breath hot on my ear and that was it.

That was it. That was it that was it that was *it* –

"NO!" I screamed, losing it all in one burst of rage – all I could feel were her insidious arms around me, and all I knew was that I didn't want them there. I didn't want my life in her hands, I didn't want to see her or think about her or even possess the knowledge that she existed.

I wanted her to die.

All the anger and betrayal welled up and in one instant I had slammed my elbows as hard as I possibly could back into her ribcage, a desperate attempt to get her to loosen her hold.

It worked.

She gasped and fell back, her nails scraping along my face, tearing the bandages off my cheek and raking across the scars beneath as she stumbled backwards and I fell forwards onto my hands and knees.

"Alison!" I heard Quatre scream from somewhere behind me.

Then I heard the gunshot.

I felt something warm and liquid travel down my cheek; I saw the blood drip onto the metal grating beneath my hands and felt warm hands on my arms.

I looked up to see Quatre squatting before me, eyes full of both hope and fear and features colored with pain.

"Alison?"

He helped me up, pulling me to my feet and I didn't resist.

It was over, my mind echoed. It was over, she was dead, it was *over* –

Above me, Trowa sighed. "We'd better tell Zechs we're going to have to refuse his offer. And then we need to move out."

I looked up; past Quatre's shoulder I could see Heero lower his gun, staring behind us, eyes colder than ice. Past him I could see Wufei, hands still balled into fists, just raising his gaze from the floor to look at me –

"Alison, come on," the blonde said, taking my hand and leading me away from it all, away from Wufei's dark gaze and Heero's gun, away from the hallway and away from Giniko.

I followed him, my head seemingly devoid of anything but cold. I couldn't think anymore, couldn't feel anymore. Suddenly I just didn't have anything left.