Chapter Three
Catherine bolted upright in her bed and quickly leaned over to turn on her bedside lamp. Her eyes shifted directly to the person standing in front of her. "Oh. It's you." she said bitterly, relaxing visibly.
"I'm impressed. You're still as alert as usual."
"As I image you are as well, Trowa Barton."
The boy stood leaning against her bedroom wall, arms folded casually across his chest. "You're still harsh with me."
"Why shouldn't I be?" she asked with a frown.
"My actions were based on your best interests."
She reached for the silk robe draped across the white wicker rocking chair beside her bed and pulled it around herself. "If you're talking about having me deliberately removed from the Universal Congress, I hardly see that as 'my best interests'." she said, mentally asking herself why she bothered with a robe in front of Trowa.
"We all know that the Senators participating in the vote were conned into passing the Freedom Act by General Yuy. They're not too friendly with Doll Supporters. Admitting you into the Congress was a cover-up. You saw what they did to Wufei."
Catherine flinched at that, but was determined nonetheless. "They viewed Wufei as a traitor, due to his sudden change of heart near the end of the vote. And they didn't do anything to Quatre or Dorothy!"
"Quatre and Senator Catalonia each have a large amount of supporters. Harming them would look bad on the Congress itself."
"I have supporters too." she said matter-of-factly.
"I know. But you were the leader of the rebellion! There were too many risks."
"They were MY risks to take!" she yelled, her eyes flaring. She was sick of this. She was sick to death of men making her decisions for her. Even Trowa, whom she thought had understood her, had taken a choice from her. In her heart, she knew that the Congress had plans to get rid of her from the beginning, but she wanted to stay with them as long as she could, to make what difference she could in the world before she was inevitably killed. But Trowa had taken that chance away from her when he asked General Yuy to personally remove her. She had been infuriated, and the rage she felt over a year ago was still lingering in her heart.
"I'm sorry, Catherine. I just didn't want to see you killed by those people, and watch them cover it up and get the glory for your martyr."
She turned her face away from him. "All this has been said before. We both made our points. There's nothing left to discuss."
"You're right." Trowa said, "but that's not the reason I'm here."
Catherine looked back up at him curiously.
"It seems that there's a secret organization who are still capturing and selling young girls as Dolls. Word is that they're based on Earth, in China, and call it the 'Doll House'."
Catherine's shoulders slumped. "You mean... there are still people who won't accept the Freedom Act? People still see us as servants?"
"I'm afraid so. The most probable answer is that the government itself is behind it."
Catherine looked crushed. "No matter what we do, it'll never end. This is our destiny, to fight and fight for our rights, never yielding yet never accomplishing anything. The Freedom Act itself wasn't even our acheivement. It was a man who forced it to be passed."
"You're wrong, Catherine. It's true that General Yuy convinced the Congress to pass it, but it was a woman, a Doll, that touched the General's heart in the first place. Relena Peacecraft."
Catherine looked up with hopeful eyes. "What do you mean? Are you saying she's the key, yet again, to stopping all this?"
Trowa looked slightly to the side. "I'm saying it's likely," he said offhandedly, "but I've already contacted Quatre and Senator Catalonia. They're looking into the situation as we speak."
Catherine wiped her eyes, that had become wet. "So, we're heading for the battle field again." She held her head high, and looked upon the rising sun as a symbol of her coming war.
Author's Notes: Sorry it took so long to get this out, guys! Spring break, spring cleaning, and Hillbilly Days all took up a lot of my time. But from here on out, chapters should come a bit faster. If not, just drop me a line and (politely) ask me to hurry. ^_^
On a side note, I've decided to begin a little contest. I'm desperately trying to get a Broken Dolls doujinshi made. I'm planning to make one web page with the rules and things like that. When the page is made (I'm gonna make it tonight, hopefully), the URL will be: http://www.geocities.com/venus_decendent/brokendollscontest.htm Be sure to check it out and spread the word! Ja!
