Jaid: Hello guys! Sorry this update's been taking so long…I kinda had writer's block again…and all that, y'know.
Naga: Oh, just get to the point!
Jaid: Be quiet. Anywayz, here's chapter thirteen!
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Chapter Thirteen
Quatre leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. He was tired. Opening his eyes, he caught Trowa staring at him, face emotionless. Quatre inwardly sighed.
Outside, a small, slim figure had lassoed a bull and was leading it towards the jail. Fastening the ropes that were around it horn's to the bars on one of the windows, the figure reigned her horse to the side and pointed the barrel of her rifle in the air. BLAM! The bull tossed it's head, frightened, and bolted, bringing the wall of the jail with it.
Quatre jumped to his feet as did Trowa. The back wall came tumbling down and Trowa didn't hesitate; he immediately ran through the opening. Quatre half limped, half ran towards the front door and headed towards the back. All he saw was a horse with two figures riding away.
Cursing softly, Quatre kicked the corner of the building. Sighing, he walked home.
* * *
"Lena?" Zechs called.
"In the kitchen!" she answered. Zechs entered. Relena looked up and smiled. She was grading several papers. "Need something?" she asked.
"Yeah, I need to talk to you about something." he said quietly. Relena frowned at the seriousness in his voice. She put down the paper she had been reading and gave her full attention to her older brother.
"Yes?"
Zechs sighed softly and sat down opposite her. "It's sort of about Quatre."
"What about him?"
"Well, I guess I'm having doubts about him leaving."
Relena smiled. "Yeah I know. It's going to be hard to see him go." She looked around at the small room. "It'll be a lot quieter too." she said, the smile fading. Zechs swallowed. This had been a mistake; he couldn't tell her. Biting his tongue, he leaned back in his chair. There was a short pause.
Suddenly, the front door burst open and the next minute Quatre appeared in the doorway of the kitchen gasping. Zechs and Relena both sprang to their feet.
"What's wrong?" Zechs demanded.
"Jail break." Quatre said. He sank into a chair, wincing a little. "The Jail house no longer has a back wall."
"Damn!" Zechs breathed. "Barton got away clean then?"
Quatre nodded his head. "Sorry, Zechs."
Zechs looked at the younger man, who was sitting in a rather dejected fashion. "Don't worry about it." he said. "It's not that bad." He slapped Quatre's shoulder. "You're tired, go on to bed."
Quatre nodded. He got and left. Relena followed him. Zechs sank into the chair Quatre had vacated and put his face in his hands. "Wonderful." he muttered.
* * *
"Thanks for the rescue." Trowa said.
"Your welcome."
Trowa nearly fell off the horse. "Midii?"
"Yeah."
Trowa smiled slightly. "I'm really glad to see you."
A soft blush painted the girl's cheeks. "You too." she answered as they rode.
* * *
Next morning, it was all over town. Of course, the destruction at the jail house was a little hard to figure. But Zechs, admittedly, was tired of telling the townsfolk what had happened. He literally wished for a phone; he could hang up on people that way.
Mieran chewed her lip nervously, thinking about it. Mrs. McCoy, the town gossip had just been in. Mieran was worried. She had bravely said to Wu Fei that it would be okay, but now, now she wasn't so sure. Entering their apartments, she found him still asleep. She was glad. Mieran had no idea how she was going to keep him in bed once he woke up. Sitting on the bed next to him, she felt Wu Fei's temperature. Still warm. Turning away, her eyes fell on the desk. The desk were the papers were. She shivered.
A hand took hers gently.
"Cold?" Wu Fei asked quietly.
"No, scared." Mieran admitted. They both were quiet for a long while. Finally, Mieran stood. "I'd better get back down there."
Wu Fei tried to sit up. "Wait a minute."
"Oh, no you don't." Mieran gently pushed him back down. "You are not getting out of bed for a while. Sally said so."
Wu Fei muttered something under his breath to low for Mieran to hear, but he was evidently too tired to argue. He obediently closed his eyes. Mieran smiled.
"Better." she whispered and kissed him on the forehead, then went back down to watch the counter.
* * *
Mariemeia walked home from school by herself. Wistfully, she wondered if she get into trouble if she stopped to see the jail house. Willie McCoy and Ellie White had been talking about it at lunch. I probably would. she thought, rather glumly. Sighing she climbed the stairs, and then brightened at the thought that maybe Mary would take her. Entering, she called, "I'm home."
"Marie." Une's voice came from the parlor. "Could you come here?"
Mariemeia gulped. She didn't like it when Une used that tone. She entered the room, grimaced slightly.
Tommy Wells, complete with black eye, sat next to a woman who was presumably Mrs. Wells. Une sat with her hands folded. She smiled at Mariemeia, but her eyes told the little girl that she was in trouble. Mariemeia came and sat down next to the woman.
"Mrs. Wells tells me that you punched Tommy in the eye." Une said, in an even, but cold voice. Mariemeia looked down at the floor.
"Yes, ma'am, I did."
"Do you have an explanation?" Une asked. Mariemeia looked up, her eyes shooting daggers at the boy.
"He put my hair ribbons in his ink well." she accused. "They were my favorites."
"Tommy." Mrs. Wells said in a despairing tone. Une looked like she was trying not to smile.
"Well, since you punched him instead of telling Ms. Marquise, then your grounded for a few days." Une said. She looked at Mrs. Wells. "That would be adequate, I think?"
"I think it's only fair that Tommy should be grounded too." Mrs. Wells agreed.
Mariemeia slouched. Looking up, she saw Tommy do the exact same thing. Frowning, she sat up straight.
* * *
The next few weeks were tense, especially for Quatre. He half expected to be shot down at any moment. Zechs wasn't any better. Lucrezia had taken up temporary residence in the Marquise home, leaving her sister and Duo to run the ranch. Relena, for her part was partly convinced that it had been Heero who had broken Trowa out of jail, and she was very grieved over it.
Wu Fei leaned against the counter. Mieran hadn't been too happy that he was working, but it didn't feel right for him to be in bed while his wife, nearly four months pregnant, did all the work. Right now she was helping Mrs. McCoy; or rather, trying to help. Margaret McCoy was one of those women whose tongues never seemed to stop. Wu Fei smiled privately. From the look on Mieran's face, she was getting quite an earful.
* * *
"What's going on, I wonder?" Quatre said. He and Zechs were slowly repairing the back wall. Lucrezia helped; actually, Zechs and Lucrezia were doing most of the work. Quatre helped were he could, but it was still hard for him.
"Who knows?" Lucrezia answered, stopping to wipe her brow. "Maybe he still doesn't know who you really are."
"I'd think it'd be obvious." Quatre stated and Lucrezia smiled and shrugged, then turned to Zechs.
"Zechs," she said. "With everything going on, it might be a good idea to have a few more deputies about."
Zechs grimaced and Quatre grinned.
"I think that's a good idea, Ms. Noin." the blonde Arab stated. From the other side of Lucrezia, Zechs gave him a below zero glare.
"Thanks, Quatre." the dark haired woman said. "What do you think, Zechs?"
"I already have two more." He answered.
"Oh, who?"
"Duo Maxwell."
"And?"
Zechs sighed. "We need to get this wall back up."
Lucrezia frowned. "Your avoiding the question."
"Quatre!" Relena called a few houses down. "Could you come here for a minute!"
"Coming!" he shouted back. "Be right back you two."
There was a short pause, then Lucrezia said, "What would you think?"
"About?"
"Me being one of your deputies."
Zechs bit his lip. "Frankly, I don't like the idea." he admitted.
"Why? I'm a better marksmen than you." Lucrezia reminded him.
"Yes, but its…well its-"
"Dangerous?"
"Well, yeah."
Lucrezia sighed. "Zechs, I lived through two wars. I was fighting at twelve. I think I can handle this."
"But it's different." Zechs put down his hammer. "I mean, we were dealing with Mobile Suits. You could take quite a few hits and still be okay. But now we're dealing with bullets."
Lucrezia came over and put a hand on his arm. "I still want to be a part of this. Come on, we've always watched each others' backs. Why not here?"
"I just don't want you to get hurt." Zechs said, not looking at her.
"Glad you feel this way." Lucrezia said. "Though I would have preferred it earlier, say in the last battle of A.C. 195?"
Zechs frowned. "I didn't hurt you."
"You almost did." Lucrezia smiled. "I'm just teasing you." Her smile faded. "But I am serious about this Zechs. Traycsant probably has quite a few men. Four of you aren't going to do much."
"And five will?"
"One grain of rice can tip the scale." Lucrezia quoted. Zechs looked at her, eyebrow raised.
"Duo Maxwell." Lucrezia explained. "He heard it off of a movie." There was another long pause. "Well?"
"Fine." Zechs picked up his hammer again. "But you'd better be careful."
* * *
Quatre entered the kitchen. "You needed me?" he asked.
"Not really." Relena admitted. "I just thought that, well, Zechs and Lucy, uh…"
Quatre smiled and nodded in understanding. "Well, might as well do something while I'm here. Need water, wood, anything?"
"No, but you could help finish tying down our shutters. It's almost monsoon season and I don't want the winds to tear them off."
"Okay." Quatre said.
* * *
Dorothy sighed, deciding whether she should put down her book and go and see Quatre or maybe Une. Une, she decided.
Lord, she thought as she hunted for a shawl. Good thing I joined the Preventors in our world; I'd probably die of boredom otherwise! Throwing a shawl about her shoulders, she called to Janet that she was going out and would be home soon.
* * *
Boss sat at his chair, in front of his desk, laying final plans. Suddenly, the door opened, and Boss fought back a twinge of annoyance; he hadn't invited anybody in. Without looking up, he said, "Out."
"Is that how you address your future king?" a voice, rich, refined, and slightly accented asked. Boss' head immediately snapped up, his dark eyes went wide.
"Sir!" he stood. "Forgive me, I did not realize-"
Armond Traycsant waved Boss' apology away with the wave of his hand. "I assume everything's in place, Charles?" he asked as he sat easily in a seat.
"Er, yes, well almost…"
Armond's steel gray eyes narrowed. "Almost? What kind of answer is almost? Have you found out the identities of the Three?"
"Well, -"
"I can see that you haven't." Armond sighed. "Charles, I expected more of you."
Charles hung his head. "You don't understand, sir. America is a much bigger place than Sanc was; it is less populated. There is more wilderness in which to hide." Charles raised his head. "I should have the identities soon. When we get them, we can get rid of them and you'll be king."
"I see." Armond smiled. "Good. What about Catalonia and Khushrenda?"
"Khushrenda has apparently left town, sir." Charles answered hesitantly.
"What?" Armond frowned again.
"We didn't anticipate him doing that. His wife had just died and – "
"Never mind about him, what about Catalonia? She's more important right now."
"We did capture her, but I had a betrayer in the ranks and she escaped." Charles said. Armond sighed.
"Mistakes, mistakes everywhere!" He shook his head, then stood. "I'm at the hotel. I expect better from you in the future Charles."
"Yes, sir." Charles answered. Armond smiled slightly.
"Don't worry about Catalonia, Charles." he said, walking to the door. Turning, a cruel smile spread across his face. "I'll take care of her." So saying, the man left the room.
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Jaid: I'm going to be wrapping this up pretty soon! I think a couple more chapters…maybe. It'll be slow; I start school on the fourteenth, but I'll as quickly as possible. :-) See you peeps later!