Jaid: Hello one and all!
Amber: Hi! I'm Amber, Jaid's friend and fellow insane person.
Naga: *to Jad* Great, now there are two of them to torture us.
Legolas: Torture?
Jad: *pats Legolas' arm* You'll see.
Legolas: *sweatdrop*
Amber & Jaid: -_-
***********************************************************************
Chapter Twenty – Three
"Mary should be fine." Sally said, coming into the room. Zechs and WuFei looked up. Une was asleep, leaning on Zechs' shoulder. Abdul was sitting on the floor.
"Abdul, why don't you come here and lets look at your cuts." Sally suggested, sitting at the desk's chair. The tall Arab obeyed and came over. Sally looked at the cut on his head and cleaned it before bandaging it. The cut on his hand was deep and Sally winced as she looked at it.
"I might have to stitch it up." she told him. "We'll have to go into the kitchen." she looked at Une. "And she needs to be in bed."
"Got it." Zechs told her and picked the slim brunette up. Une moaned slightly in pain and Zechs cringed. He had forgotten about Une's knife wound. He carefully made his way up the stairs. WuFei stood.
"Tell Marquise I'll be waiting for him at the store."
"Where are you going so late?" Sally asked.
"Winner was kidnapped." WuFei answered. Abdul's head snapped up.
"What?" he asked.
"He's been kidnapped. Traycsant." WuFei paused at the entrance way. "Better let Noin know tomorrow."
* * *
It was early morning. The sun was just rising above the earth, it's rays catching in the dew on the prairie grass. Heero reigned his horse in as his jaw tightened. The scene of mass destruction before him worried him. If this had happened to the Maguanacs, then what would Traycsant do to Winner….or Relena?
He dismounted. Heero figured it would be worthless to look for survivors; most likely there weren't any. But there weren't any bodies either. Heero knelt before several graves, with make-shift crossed made out of sticks. Whoever had done this hadn't had the supplies they needed for a proper burial, but had obviously done their best. Heero stayed there for a moment and was about to turn, when the soft, tell-tale click of a hammer being drawn reached his ears…
* * *
"Hey. Hey, wake up."
Dorothy moaned. "I don't want too. Go away."
"Ms. Catalonia, you have to get up, NOW!" Duo yelled the last part. Dorothy jumped up, her eyes wide and startled.
"What, what's wrong!?" she looked around confused, then glared at Duo. "Maxwell!"
"Rise and shine!" Duo said cheerfully.
"What time is it?" Dorothy demanded.
"Dawn."
Dorothy groaned. There was a chuckle and Treize entered the room. Dorothy smiled and went over to embrace her cousin.
"I'm glad to see you safe, Dorothy." he said in relief. "But Maxwell tells me that Winner was captured as well."
Dorothy swallowed and nodded. "He might be dead." she whispered. Trieze looked at the floor, then back up.
"Well, regardless," he said, and went to the sitting room door. "We have some company."
Zechs, WuFei, and Sally entered.
"Where's Quatre?" Zechs asked.
"At the headquarters' I guess." Dorothy answered. If he's still alive…her heart wrenched at the thought. "Hello Sally."
Sally smiled and hugged her. "Figured you might need a doctor. Besides I'm a fairly decent shot."
WuFei rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath. Duo grinned as Sally glared at the Chinaman.
"We found Abdul." Sally told them, once everybody was sitting down. "He was in Une's kitchen, looking for water. Apparently, many of the Maguanacs were able to escape destruction. However, they are not the happiest people in the world right now."
"Basically they're pissed off." Duo said.
"Yeah." Sally answered. "That's one way of putting it. Abdul's gone to go get them."
"It looks like we'll be having a showdown sooner than we thought." Zechs commented. "Lucrezia should be here by this evening."
* * *
"Up." a man roughly grabbed Quatre's arm and pulled him to his feet. Quatre grimaced as the lashes on his back protested.
"Move, now." the man said giving him a slight push.
"What's going on? Where are you taking me?" Quatre demanded.
"Just move." was the only answer he got.
* * *
"I have to go to town, okay?" Midii almost half whispered. Trowa nodded.
"There's plenty of water and food nearby, but don't move too much. You don't want to reopen that wound." she warned him.
"I won't." Trowa answered. Midii smiled and squeezed his hand before going out and harnessing Jimmy to the wagon.
* * *
"So, Yuy," a bitter voice said. "Come to finish the job?"
"No." Heero cautiously turned and faced Adua. "I had nothing to do with this. I don't work with Traycsant anymore."
"You expect me to believe that?" Adua demanded. "Give me a good reason why I shouldn't shoot you down right now?"
"You won't." Rashid said, coming up behind Heero. "Not till we have more information. Yuy, your weapons."
With exaggerated care, Heero unbuckled his holster belt and let it drop to the ground. then he stepped away from it, his hands raised. He noticed that many of the other Maguanac men had come up.
"What happened here?" he asked.
"As if you didn't know." Adua answered.
Heero met his gaze levelly. "I don't."
"Traycsant's men attacked; took us by surprise." Rashid explained quietly. "Though how they knew when to attack or even that we were here is a puzzle to me."
"What are we going to do with him, Boss?" Auda asked in Arabic. Rashid frowned.
"Keep him alive for now." he answered in the same language. "He might be able to help us."
* * *
By evening; quite a group of people were in Iria's house. Zechs, WuFei, Sally, Duo, Dorothy, and Trieze had been joined by Hilde, Lucrezia, John Wells, the blacksmith Tom Harris, a young Spanish man named Almanzo García, a black man David Smith and his two sons, Isaiah and Luke, and to everyone's surprise, Mieran, Relena and Une. All of them were gathered in Iria's parlor, along with Jim and of course, Iria.
"I'm guessing this is going to be the final show-down." Iria commented.
"I think so." Zechs answered. "It's time we confronted Traycsant."
"You need to be careful." Trieze warned. "If we fight on his territory; then Traycsant will cheat. He's bent on getting the throne to Sank."
"But why?" Relena asked. "I mean Sank is small, and obviously depilated from the rebellion."
"But Sank also has a great deal of wealth, buried beneath it's surface." Treize told her. "That's really was Traycsant is after."
"We should make a plan." Zechs said. "And I think someone should ride out to keep the Maguanacs out of town for the time being."
"You're afraid they'll attack Traycsant prematurely, for revenge?" Dorothy asked.
"Yes, but I think they will be a handy trump card." Zechs answered. "One that Traycsant won't expect."
* * *
Anna slowly made her way to the house. That Midii girl had come by and Iria had sent Anna off to take care of Trowa, as Midii had to be in town for a few days. The young black woman had been trained by Iria; Anna wanted desperately to be a nurse but was hindered by her status as a slave and her skin color. Trowa glanced at her as she sat by the cot/bed.
"Hello, there." she said. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm alive." he answered, stoically. Anna smiled.
"Yeah," she agreed. "You are."
* * *
"Boss! Hey, boss!" Abdul shouted as he reined in his horse and dismounted. Rashid looked up from their makeshift camp and smiled as the young man ran up. For several moments, there was a great deal of greetings and embraces; Abdul had been separated from the other Maguanacs and they had all assumed him dead. Heero looked up from his place at the fire. He had been telling Rashid about Quatre being captured. Everyone quieted down and Abdul told them about meeting Sally and that everyone was re-grouping. The Maguanacs planned to leave the next morning.
* * *
"Ahh, Winner." Armond said easily, as he stood. Quatre glared at him.
"What do you want now, Traycsant?" he asked with a hard edge to his voice.
"I think you know." Armond told him. "Information." Quatre shook his head.
"You're wasting your time." he said. "I don't know anything."
"I highly doubt that." Armond commented. "But I suppose we'll just have to convince you."
* * *
Lucrezia and Zechs stood on Iria's porch, watching the moon. Zechs looked at her.
"It's going to be rough the next few days." he commented. Lucrezia smiled.
"I know." she said quietly. "But I'll be with you, that's all that matters."
Zechs looked away. "Why?" he asked, half-whispering.
"Why what?" Lucrezia looked confused.
"Why do you always have such faith in me?" He asked, looking at her. Lucrezia stared at his pale blue eyes; saw the questions in them. She turned towards him.
"Because I know the real you Zechs. All those years, I knew what lied beneath the confusion, the loneliness, the guilt you had. I trusted that one day, you would know who you really were and that you would act on it. I still believe that." Lucrezia placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'll never stop believing in you, Zechs Marquise or Millardo Peacecraft; whichever you choose."
Zechs pulled her into a tight embrace. "Thank you." He murmured. Lucrezia just smiled gently.
* * *
"Doc?" Jim walked to the back porch. Iria turned around smiling.
"Sheriff Marquise and Ms. Noin were in the front." she said. "I think they wanted privacy."
Jim smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I guess they did." he walked up next to her. "Mind if I join you here?"
Iria shook her head. Jim came and leaned against the railing. "So," he said. "What do you think of all this?"
"I think," Iria said, "That Quatre Winner better be alive, seeing as he is my half-brother. I can't believe…" she trailed off. "He looks so much like Quatrine." There was a distant look in her eyes. Jim didn't say anything. He knew that Iria had been very young during the Rebellion in her country, but even young people can have things deeply imprinted on them.
"You okay?" He finally asked. Iria looked at him smiling.
"Yeah, just…" she looked down, biting her tongue. When she looked up again, there were tears in her cornflower blue eyes. "I just miss my Father so much right now."
Jim hesitantly put his arm around her and Iria leaned against him, thankful that he seemed to understand.
* * *
Quatre blinked. His head seemed to heavy for his neck and he felt disoriented. There was something in his mouth, it tasted metallic. Quatre spit it out; blood. He slumped to the floor, too tired and in too much pain to think much of it. All he could think about right now was Dorothy…and prayed that she had gotten away and was safe.
* * *
Dorothy stood in the parlor, where the women were sleeping. Everyone else was asleep, but she stood at the window. The moon cast her pale rays, making Dorothy look more like some ghostly apparition rather than a flesh and blood girl.
Please, she begged inwardly. Please, let him be safe. Her eyes lowered and she looked at the street. Don't worry Quatre, we're coming. We're coming as soon as we can.
* * *
"How is she?" Une asked. Trieze looked up, then stood.
"Better." he answered, offering Une the chair. She waved it away and sat on the bed, opposite him. Sympathy on her face, she reached out and stroked some of Mariemeia's red hair.
"Poor thing." she whispered. Une looked back at Trieze, and placed a hand on his. "How have you been?"
"I don't know." he answered, smiling wryly. "I guess I haven't had time to think about it."
Une smiled back.
"You ought to be in bed." Trieze told her. "You've just gotten better and –"
"Trieze." Une interrupted. "I'll be fine. Don't worry. You worry about everyone else and not yourself. Besides," she added softly. "I wanted to talk to you. It seems like it's been forever since we've spoken."
"It does seem like a long time." Treize answered, noticing for the first time that her hand was still in his. "I'm sorry Anne; I shouldn't have dragged you into this."
"I never said I minded, did I?" Une told him, then pulled an envelope out of her belt. "I kept meaning to give this to you, but life seemed to get in the way. Please," she added, as he took it. "Don't read it till after I leave."
Treize nodded and placed it in his coat pocket. "You know," he said. "You look much younger without your glasses." he cocked his head. "I think I like you better without them."
Une smiled thinly. "Well, I can hardly see without them." she said ruefully. "I'm afraid you'll just have to get used to them."
Treize laughed softly. "I guess." He took both Une's hands in his. "I just wanted you to know…I guess I wanted to thank you for always being there for me and Mariemeia, especially since Leia died. You've been an angel."
Une's cheeks grew very warm. "Well, I wouldn't say that." she said.
"I am." Treize told her. He looked down. "I just want you to be careful, all right? I don't know what I would do if I lost you as well." He looked back up at her.
"All right." she whispered. Unbeknownst to them, the tiny red-headed young girl had heard every word, and a slight smile appeared on her face.
* * *
The next morning dawned bright and clear. Luke Smith, the youngest, but also fastest rider, was sent out to apprehend the Maguanacs and tell them of the plan. Almonzo and John carried the challenge of the show-down to Traycsant, while Zechs and Noin alerted the sheriff, Mueller and his deputy, Alex.*
Dorothy, Une, Iria, and the other women prepared bandages, medicines, and helped the remaining men loaded rifles and pistols. A grim, heavy mood seemed to settle over them all; only Mariemeia seemed to unaware of it's influence.
Heero and Maguanacs also laid their own plans and Quatre held on for another day. Soon it would come; for good or for ill, the end was drawing near.
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Amber: That was nice.
Jad: No it wasn't.
Jaid: Shut up.
Amber: Yeah, Jad, shut your elvish mouth up!
Jad: LEGOLAS! They're being mean too me.
Legolas: Well you're probably asking for it.
Jad: ? You're supposed to be on my side.
Jaid: He's my husband, remember? He's on my side now. (evil laughter)
Everyone else: *huge collective sweatdrop*
*Mueller and Alex: it's a joke, get it?