Alex looked at Julia with a blank stare.
"What?"
"......"
"What?!"
"Yeah, this is gonna work out for the next seventy two or more
hours."
"Seventy two...." Julia let out a moan and hit her head a few times
on the wall.
Alex looked over the room, glad Heero had let her design the rooms. There
were two beds that were big enough for one person each. These were on
different walls from eachother, and there was a door behind each bed. One
rolled-up cot lay under a bed, in case there were more than two people per
room. A small refrigerator was set into the far wall, next to the last
escape door. There was a small bookshelf on the other side of the door,
with about twenty books. On the top of the bookcase was a small headset
that played microchips containing music. The microchips were lined up on
the other side of the headset. Every type of music was set out, but there
were obvious amounts of more of two types of music.
It was cozy, but nothing was too close together. The walls had been painted
a blue that went from light blue at the top, down to a deep blue that was
almost black. It gave the room depth and matched the blue bedspreads that
were lain out on each bed. There were different color-schemes for each
room, it made it easier to get bedspreads that matched the paint in each
room.
Not that it mattered....
Oh jeez, Alex thought. I'm worried about what the rooms look like.
I've been spending too much time with Julia.
"Nice room, Alex." Julia walked over to the bed on the right side and
turned down the covers. She grinned, "Even the sheets match. I've been
rubbing off on you."
"I was just thinking that. How fortunate for me."
Julia looked over at Alex, cocking her head to one side. "I bet, even
if we don't get found-out by Plague, we won't make it out of here alive."
"If I bet against that, I'll lose."
Julia sat there and hit the back of her head against the wall as she listened to the Christian chips. She looked over at Alex who was laying down reading books. In the last twenty-four hours they'd heard the troops moving in and settling on the grounds of the base and house. The house, from what they could tell, was already destroyed. It was just a good thing they'd moved the Gundams when they had. Alex got up and walked over to the door. Julia took off the headset so she could hear and sighed. She hadn't realized the music was up so loud. Alex opened the door to her father. He came in and went straight for Julia with something in his hand and a glass of water. "What's this?" Julia asked sitting up. "Birth control pills. I don't want you getting pregnant for not being protected. What would Duo say if he found out I'd let his daughter get pregnant before she was old enough to drink?" "That you were a failure." Julia said with a sigh. She took the pills and glass of water, putting the pills in her mouth and drink the water in two gulps. Heero sat down on the bed beside her and looked at Alex. She got the hint and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her. Heero looked back at Julia as she pulled her knees up to her chest. "You're going to try and have a heart-to-heart, aren't you?" "Yes." "God help me." She said and smiled. Heero grinned and looked down to his hands in his lap, then back up. "I know you're almost eighteen, and old enough to make your own decisions, but..." he stopped for a moment and looked back at his lap. He looked deep in thought. "Your father gave me you so I could raise you, before he'd died he'd asked me to take care of you. For me not to let you make some of the mistakes he'd made-that any of us made. You kids, you guys are so much more different than we were. " "But we've grown up like you guys. We-" "We never wanted you guys to go out and fight in the war, Julia. We hadn't planned for anything like this to happen. The only reason you guys did fight is because we couldn't. "I'm afraid I might fail in the promise I made to Duo. That I won't be able to keep it. He was, as much as I had hated to admit it, my best friend. When your mother... died... he... your father was lost for sometime. Like Alex is with you, I held it together for him while he tried to figure things out." Julia moved her legs so she was sitting cross-legged. She'd changed into pants and a sweatshirt during the wait, and the trench coat was on the bed next to her. "How did you and my father meet?" Heero grinned, looked over at her and leaned back against the wall. He had the look in his eyes that he was remembering something funny. "When we met, I was just about to shoot Relena. I had been detonating torpedoes to destroy my Gundam, and she'd come to stop me from killing anyone." "She was kinda annoying back then, wasn't she?" Heero laughed. "A little." "Anyways." "When Duo and I first met he shot me, twice. And from then on we saved each other from all these things and later just hung out." "How did my mother meet him?" "At a party Relena was throwing for our wedding. She was Relena's secretary at the time, and when Duo and her met there was an automatic attraction." He looked down again, this time away so Julia couldn't see his expression. "What?" He looked back. "I never really liked her, there was something that was just... I don't know. I told your father this, and he didn't talk to me until you were born and Alanis died. He'd said he'd never felt sad and happy at the same time, but when that happened he felt it hard. And he said he suddenly believed in God. "He raised you the best he could, Julia. And him and your mother weren't married when you were born, and Alanis wasn't twenty-one yet. That's why Duo asked me to take care of you, why I don't want you getting pregnant until you're married and older. I don't want to fail with Duo up there watching me. I'm supposed to be the 'perfect soldier', and I guess that brings people to think I can be the 'perfect parent' as well." "You've done the best you could have, Heero." "I know I've done well, but when I saw you and Zero out there tonight... I had a sudden image of Duo taking his scythe and beating me over the head with it. I wouldn't like it if I saw Alex doing something like that because she's my daughter, and I realized you are my daughter too." Julia stared at Heero, mouth agape. She closed her mouth, and then sighed. "I won't let myself get pregnant before I'm married, Heero. I have my morals." "And they're like your father's." "Is that good?" He grinned, "Sometimes." He stood up and walked to the door. "I'll go now, I think this heart-to-heart stuff has been giving me a soft heart." He opened the door and started through. "Heero," "Yeah?" "Thanks." "Yeah." He walked out and Alex came back in. "Heart-to-heart?" She asked sitting on her bed. "Mm hm." "I'm sorry." "It was actually pretty interesting." "Well, I think that must have been the most words you've ever heard him say?" "Uh huh. When you get him going he does talk a lot." Alex laughed. "Yeah? Our heart-to-hearts are consistent of stares and grunts. The occasional, 'I love you, your my daughter, don't screw up.'s. Very nice when you're talking about the birds and the bees." Julia and her laughed together. "He didn't know what to say when we had that talk. I think he was used to having you just sit there quietly, and I come up with all these questions." "He sent my mom in. I remember that." Alex laughed harder. "He always said you were as talkative as your father, but more inquisitive and a little less annoying." "Yeah, I heard about-" BOOM. CRACK. The laughter stopped and they both looked toward the door. It seemed to be warping in toward them, then snapped back into place with another 'crack'. Screams were heard outside the room and Julia grabbed her gun from were it was hid on her thigh holster. Slowly Alex and her stepped closer to the door. Alex's eyes went wide when she put her hand to the door, and suddenly grabbed Julia. Julia went flying back as Alex pushed her away, followed by the dark brunette who held Julia down. PTCHEW. BOOM. The door exploded, and Julia saw what was on the other side. "Zechs?"
Zechs Peacecraft stood there holding a gun. He pointed it at the two girls as men rushed by in back of him. "You spineless coward." Alex hissed raising her gun as well. "You traded us off, you cad-" "Ah, ah, ah, no name calling." He looked at Julia who was sitting on the ground, the gun went to rest aimed at her heart. He cocked the gun and pulled of the safety. It clicked, and another click sounded after. Julia winced and he grinned, "You shoot me, Julia goes next. You'll have two lives on your hands that wouldn't have been necessary." "You wouldn't shoot me." Julia whispered harshly. "No, but I would." Tarmine stepped out from in back of Zechs, her purple hair pulled back in a bun. She held up her gun and cocked it, pulling off safety and pointing it at Julia. Zechs watched Julia's face, how it turned from fear to anger, then back to fear. "What'd you do with the others?" she whispered softly. "If you hurt anyone..." Alex started. "You're in no place to pose threats upon us. The others are being taken to a center downtown. You can't-oomph!"
"I'm gonna get you kid! ARGH!" "Not if I have anything to say about it!" Zero shot up and triple kicked the guard. This wasn't so hard once you got out of the shackles. He bent down and grabbed the man's automatic, cocking it and taking the belt of bullets. He put them on and ran back towards the house, shooting the men that got in his way. He had to get to Julia, to see if Tarmine had gotten the two girls out of Zechs's reach. He knew Tarmine wouldn't kill Julia, even if she didn't like her. Tarmine was too loyal to her father and to his. "Hey you!" Zero spun around and cursed as a bullet bit into his left arm. He held up his gun and shot the man that had shot him. "That's what you get for SCREWING AROUND!" he did a three-sixty and shot al the while, hitting anyone near enough to hit. The bullets ran out and he dropped the gun, running into the demolished house. He kicked a wall that was still up and ran inside, descending a staircase that would lead him straight to Julia and Alex's room. Sudden flashes of the old war flowed through his head. Reminders of when Julia was almost killed. "God, Lord, don't let me be too late."
Alex shot her gaze toward Tarmine. She'd hit Zechs in the back of the head with her gun, and was now grinning. "Come on, you really think I would shoot you guys after all we've done for eachother? I still owe Julia for beating the crap out of those kids in eleventh." A pounding sound came from one of the room's doors and Alex spun to set her gun on the door. Tarmine watched Julia hold her gun up and carefully walk to it. She opened it, dropped the gun, and grabbed onto Zero. "I thought they took you already!" She cried into his neck. Zero winced and moved his arm from her grasp. "What happened?" "Just a love tap, nothing bad." "A love tap?" Tarmine asked raising an eyebrow. "Yeah," he grinned. "The guy really loved me, so I shot him back. It's one of them their love/hate relationships." "That's enough screwing around, we need to get out of here." Alex said picking Julia's gun back up. "Listen, right now we have about forty guards that aren't busy doing anything. They won't be that hard to get by, but we might want to get somewhere that they won't be able to find us. Our best bet is in the labyrinth." Tarmine said to the other three. She turned to Julia, "Isn't there a medical lab somewhere in there?" "A small one. It's like the fall-out shelter, but it's hidden so well only me, Heero and Alex can find it. It's also guarded by three cats and two wolves." "Alright, let's get going." The four of them started down the halls at a jog, running down the twisting and turning maze. Julia stopped and slammed her fist into the wall, and they all descended down into a dark hole. "Isn't this an oubliette?" Zero asked holding his arm. "No, the oubliettes don't give warning when you fall into them." Alex said as she took a small flashlight from her pocket. She shone it on the far wall and Julia walked over to it, placing her hands on the wall. It lit up, flashed out and things started to beep. Tarmine suddenly gasped and yelped. There was something warm rubbing on her legs, and it was whimpering. The wall started to open and she looked down to see a small, tawny wolf with one blue eye and one brown. It looked up at her, then over at Julia and ran to the girl. "It looks so real." "This one is. I come down every day to feed and water him." Julia picked up the pup and carried him into the medical room on the other side. The others followed and Zero sat on one of the beds. There were five beds and a lot of shiny machines and cabinets. The whole room was white and silver, with packs of IV's hung here and there. The doors and the floor that they come from went back up to make it look like nothing had happened in the labyrinth. Not even Zechs, if he woke, could find this place.
"How did you come down here? You haven't visited anyone for a couple of weeks." Alex said. "There are ways to get in." She sat the small pup down and it yipped, chasing its tail playfully. She walked over to a cabinet and opened it, taking out different items for Zero. Alex sat down on the ground and patted on her lap for the wolf. It yipped again and ran to her, licking her face. She looked up as Julia passed and stood up with the puppy in her arms. She was interested to see how Zero would react to Julia's medical skills. Julia set the small tray down by Zero. She put a rubber band around his upper arm, right above the wound, and then took up a needle. "You never used anesthetics on my gun shots." "You're related to Heero Yuy, you can stand the pain." She looked up at Zero. "Tell me when it's numb. It's still gonna hurt, but not as much as it would if I didn't put this stuff on it." "Gee, thanks." Alex said sarcastically. Zero smiled softly, "It's numb." "As numb as your head." Tarmine looked at Alex and grinned. "I don't think they hear you." "Me either." Julia took up a small tool that looked like tweezers and gently put them in the wound. Zero winced and his right hand balled into a fist, but he kept himself still as Julia kept working. She took out the bullet and everyone's eyes widened. "It's an exploding bullet. How did they get these? I thought only we had the ability to create these." Tarmine said taking the bullet from Julia. Alex's eyes narrowed. How dare he, "Remember, Zechs is a traitor. Zero's lucky it hit him how it did. It disabled the exploding device before it had a chance to react." Julia looked up at Zero and tears welled in her eyes. "My Zero, you could have been killed coming to save me." "But I wasn't, Julia. I wouldn't leave you here alone. I'm not leaving 'til you are." Julia nodded and hugged him gently, then went back to fixing his wound. Alex watched this show with a slight gagging sensation in her stomach. Also the realization that Julia and Zero really did care for eachother. Though they drove eachother up the wall, they helped eachother in difficult times. It was very interesting, sickening, and confusing all at the same time. Julia finished wrapping a bandage around Zero's arm and he hoped down off the table, sweeping Julia off the ground and into his arms. "Oh jeez." Tarmine moaned. "Oh no." Alex agreed. This was followed by a small puppy moan from the wolf and his head going down to rest on Alex's arm.
Julia grinned as Zero kissed her deeply. She kissed back and let him play at her lips for a moment. "Come on, we don't have time for this." Tarmine said with a sigh. Zero pulled away and looked at her for a moment. "Yes we do, you said so yourself." "What's the wolf's name?" Alex asked Julia while she still had the ability to talk. "It's Star." She looked back up at Zero as he put her on the medical table, taking the tray of tools away from it. He climbed up and laid a little on top and to the side of her, leaning down to kiss her deeply. "Oh goody, are we going to have a lesson in sex-ed.?" Alex asked with a very deep, dark sarcasm. "If you want." Julia said grinning. She reached up and kissed Zero deeply, letting her tongue run over Zero's. Their tongues explored each other's mouths and when Julia looked over to see if the two other girls were watching she saw Alex holding Star and Tarmine gawking. Alex's eyes were wide, and it made Julia laugh. "What's wrong, Alex?" "I've never seen anyone kissing that deep. It looks like Zero's eating off your face." Zero laughed and let his head drop a little. It brought his face a little close to the swell of Julia's breasts, and she was suddenly very aware of him and the two others in the room. "Not here." "I know." He raised his face to hers again and kissed her, then got up on his knees and looked down at her smiling softly. "You're a dork." "But I'm a cute dork." "So?" Julia laughed softly and sat up, pulling Zero down to lie by her. She entwined her left hand fingers with his right and let their legs entwine as well. Star yelped and pushed out of Alex's hold, hopping onto the bed between them. "Might as well get comfy," she started. "We'll have to wait a few more hours to get away."
Zero looked back over to Julia as she lay shaking on the bed. Her scar was white against the paleness of her skin. Sweat ran down her face and soaked the front of her sweatshirt. Zero paced back and forth of the bed as Alex sat on another bed reading through a medical books. During the last few hours Julia had gone into a sort of shock. Tremors had started to run through her body every now and then, and Zero was on the edge of panic. Star sat by Julia's head and licked her face, then whimpered and laid by her, putting his head on her chest. "Did she take anything? Come on, why can't you figure this out?!" "Don't yell at me, Zero, it won't help me find what's wrong. The only thing she took was-" Alex looked up and thought back when her father had come. "What is it? What's wrong?!" "Zero, calm down." Tarmine said softly. "I can't calm down." "My dad came in and he... he didn't look right. He gave her birth control pills, but they were little capsules. I-" "AAAAHHHH!!!" Star yipped and fell back from Julia as she screamed out. Zero raced to her bedside and Alex dropped the book, hopping down from the bed she sat on. Tarmine went over, too, holding a cold, wet towel in her hands. Julia's eyes snapped open and she sat up, screaming again in terror. "IT'S COMING, IT'S COMING. NO! I DON'T WANT TO GO!" Zero grabbed Julia and climbed onto the bed as she thrashed around. He didn't want her to hurt herself. "AAAAHHHHH!!! GET OFF OF ME, GET OFF! I DON'T WANT TO DIE LIKE THIS!!! LET ME GO!!!" tears were streaming down her face and sounds too primitive to be screams escaped her mouth. "Alex, what's wrong?!" "I don't know," Alex said with a shaky voice. Tarmine looked at them from the side. "What did your father look like when he came in?" "Like he was lost in thought. His eyes were dilated..." her eyes widened. "No. How?" "You father was the only one that ate dinner, am I right?" "No, Zechs was in there with him." Her eyes narrowed and she formed the letter 'o' with her lips. Zero got it just as Alex did. Her father had been drugged somehow, and had been controlled to take the capsule of only God knew what to Julia. Julia started to scream again, and Star jumped down of the bed to hide in the corner. "I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!!" "Julia, you won't, I'm here Julia." He bent down and put his forehead to her neck. "Please, Julia, remember me." "AAAAHHHH!!!" Alex was suddenly at their side with a needle in her hand. It was filled with a clear liquid that she carefully injected into Julia's trapped arm. The screaming stopped and Julia just lay there panting. Zero looked up at her and she started to cry again. He sat up and took her into his lap, holding her like a baby. "What was that?" "A serum I found in the book. Seems my cousin had figured out how to control the minds of people. In this case, he took Julia's fear of dying and gave her visions of a painful death." "You figured that all out?" he looked down at Julia in his arms. Tears threatened to come from his eyes as a thought crossed his mind. Julia wasn't afraid of dying, she never had been, and it was just how and when that scared her. She'd faced death in all forms of painless and quick, but never had she gone up against the unknown and uncertain. If she didn't know that it would or would be quick, then she wouldn't do it. "I'm the one that created the formulae for mind-control in the first place. I used to use it on Julia when she had nightmares, but I did the opposite effect. I gave her dreams of butterflies and flowers. He added something to turn the effect around."
"Poor Julia." Tarmine whispered. She was sorry now for not liking the girl. Julia hadn't done anything to her. If anything she'd done a lot for her. As the four of them sat there, Julia trembling in Zero's arms, Tarmine recollected on the first time Julia had stuck up for her. It was in eleventh grade, after Tarmine had been beaten up by two of the more popular kids in school. Julia and Zero had always been at the top of the popular list, and no one would have expected Julia to stick up for Tarmine. "Did Julia Maxwell just stick up for me?" She'd asked as she was being taken onto the ambulance. "Yeah, she beat the crap out of both Brent and Courtney." "Isn't she still on probation?" "Yeah, and she violated it for you." Tarmine grinned. "She's a cool kid." "I know. I just figured that one out when I saw what she did to Brent." he bent down and kissed her forehead. "I'll get her and we'll follow you to the hospital." "Alright." Tarmine sighed and handed Zero the wet towel. He took it and gently placed it on Julia's forehead. "There's a war coming. You know who is behind this whole thing. She's planning on getting Julia back." Tarmine whispered. "I know." Zero said delicately. They both looked at Julia, she was sound asleep in Zero's arms, occasionally sniffling softly. "How will we tell her?" "We won't." Alex said simply. She pushed off the wall from where she'd been leaning, walking over to them. "We can't tell Julia, not after all the secrets everyone has kept from her." "She has to know." Tarmine said. "No she doesn't." Alex argued. "I don't have to know what?" Julia whispered from where her head lay in the crook of Zero's arm. "Nothing, angel of mine. Go back to sleep." He looked down at Julia, into her innocent blue eyes. She nodded and rested her head on his shoulder, kissing his neck once, then falling to sleep again. "We can't tell her." Alex pleaded. Zero looked up at Tarmine, then to Alex. "We won't tell her yet, but sooner or later she'll find out." Alex nodded and sighed. "I just hope it's later." "Me too." Tarmine said quietly. Zero kissed behind Julia's ear gently, lying back with her in his arms. "Yeah."
Julia sat there and hit the back of her head against the wall as she listened to the Christian chips. She looked over at Alex who was laying down reading books. In the last twenty-four hours they'd heard the troops moving in and settling on the grounds of the base and house. The house, from what they could tell, was already destroyed. It was just a good thing they'd moved the Gundams when they had. Alex got up and walked over to the door. Julia took off the headset so she could hear and sighed. She hadn't realized the music was up so loud. Alex opened the door to her father. He came in and went straight for Julia with something in his hand and a glass of water. "What's this?" Julia asked sitting up. "Birth control pills. I don't want you getting pregnant for not being protected. What would Duo say if he found out I'd let his daughter get pregnant before she was old enough to drink?" "That you were a failure." Julia said with a sigh. She took the pills and glass of water, putting the pills in her mouth and drink the water in two gulps. Heero sat down on the bed beside her and looked at Alex. She got the hint and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her. Heero looked back at Julia as she pulled her knees up to her chest. "You're going to try and have a heart-to-heart, aren't you?" "Yes." "God help me." She said and smiled. Heero grinned and looked down to his hands in his lap, then back up. "I know you're almost eighteen, and old enough to make your own decisions, but..." he stopped for a moment and looked back at his lap. He looked deep in thought. "Your father gave me you so I could raise you, before he'd died he'd asked me to take care of you. For me not to let you make some of the mistakes he'd made-that any of us made. You kids, you guys are so much more different than we were. " "But we've grown up like you guys. We-" "We never wanted you guys to go out and fight in the war, Julia. We hadn't planned for anything like this to happen. The only reason you guys did fight is because we couldn't. "I'm afraid I might fail in the promise I made to Duo. That I won't be able to keep it. He was, as much as I had hated to admit it, my best friend. When your mother... died... he... your father was lost for sometime. Like Alex is with you, I held it together for him while he tried to figure things out." Julia moved her legs so she was sitting cross-legged. She'd changed into pants and a sweatshirt during the wait, and the trench coat was on the bed next to her. "How did you and my father meet?" Heero grinned, looked over at her and leaned back against the wall. He had the look in his eyes that he was remembering something funny. "When we met, I was just about to shoot Relena. I had been detonating torpedoes to destroy my Gundam, and she'd come to stop me from killing anyone." "She was kinda annoying back then, wasn't she?" Heero laughed. "A little." "Anyways." "When Duo and I first met he shot me, twice. And from then on we saved each other from all these things and later just hung out." "How did my mother meet him?" "At a party Relena was throwing for our wedding. She was Relena's secretary at the time, and when Duo and her met there was an automatic attraction." He looked down again, this time away so Julia couldn't see his expression. "What?" He looked back. "I never really liked her, there was something that was just... I don't know. I told your father this, and he didn't talk to me until you were born and Alanis died. He'd said he'd never felt sad and happy at the same time, but when that happened he felt it hard. And he said he suddenly believed in God. "He raised you the best he could, Julia. And him and your mother weren't married when you were born, and Alanis wasn't twenty-one yet. That's why Duo asked me to take care of you, why I don't want you getting pregnant until you're married and older. I don't want to fail with Duo up there watching me. I'm supposed to be the 'perfect soldier', and I guess that brings people to think I can be the 'perfect parent' as well." "You've done the best you could have, Heero." "I know I've done well, but when I saw you and Zero out there tonight... I had a sudden image of Duo taking his scythe and beating me over the head with it. I wouldn't like it if I saw Alex doing something like that because she's my daughter, and I realized you are my daughter too." Julia stared at Heero, mouth agape. She closed her mouth, and then sighed. "I won't let myself get pregnant before I'm married, Heero. I have my morals." "And they're like your father's." "Is that good?" He grinned, "Sometimes." He stood up and walked to the door. "I'll go now, I think this heart-to-heart stuff has been giving me a soft heart." He opened the door and started through. "Heero," "Yeah?" "Thanks." "Yeah." He walked out and Alex came back in. "Heart-to-heart?" She asked sitting on her bed. "Mm hm." "I'm sorry." "It was actually pretty interesting." "Well, I think that must have been the most words you've ever heard him say?" "Uh huh. When you get him going he does talk a lot." Alex laughed. "Yeah? Our heart-to-hearts are consistent of stares and grunts. The occasional, 'I love you, your my daughter, don't screw up.'s. Very nice when you're talking about the birds and the bees." Julia and her laughed together. "He didn't know what to say when we had that talk. I think he was used to having you just sit there quietly, and I come up with all these questions." "He sent my mom in. I remember that." Alex laughed harder. "He always said you were as talkative as your father, but more inquisitive and a little less annoying." "Yeah, I heard about-" BOOM. CRACK. The laughter stopped and they both looked toward the door. It seemed to be warping in toward them, then snapped back into place with another 'crack'. Screams were heard outside the room and Julia grabbed her gun from were it was hid on her thigh holster. Slowly Alex and her stepped closer to the door. Alex's eyes went wide when she put her hand to the door, and suddenly grabbed Julia. Julia went flying back as Alex pushed her away, followed by the dark brunette who held Julia down. PTCHEW. BOOM. The door exploded, and Julia saw what was on the other side. "Zechs?"
Zechs Peacecraft stood there holding a gun. He pointed it at the two girls as men rushed by in back of him. "You spineless coward." Alex hissed raising her gun as well. "You traded us off, you cad-" "Ah, ah, ah, no name calling." He looked at Julia who was sitting on the ground, the gun went to rest aimed at her heart. He cocked the gun and pulled of the safety. It clicked, and another click sounded after. Julia winced and he grinned, "You shoot me, Julia goes next. You'll have two lives on your hands that wouldn't have been necessary." "You wouldn't shoot me." Julia whispered harshly. "No, but I would." Tarmine stepped out from in back of Zechs, her purple hair pulled back in a bun. She held up her gun and cocked it, pulling off safety and pointing it at Julia. Zechs watched Julia's face, how it turned from fear to anger, then back to fear. "What'd you do with the others?" she whispered softly. "If you hurt anyone..." Alex started. "You're in no place to pose threats upon us. The others are being taken to a center downtown. You can't-oomph!"
"I'm gonna get you kid! ARGH!" "Not if I have anything to say about it!" Zero shot up and triple kicked the guard. This wasn't so hard once you got out of the shackles. He bent down and grabbed the man's automatic, cocking it and taking the belt of bullets. He put them on and ran back towards the house, shooting the men that got in his way. He had to get to Julia, to see if Tarmine had gotten the two girls out of Zechs's reach. He knew Tarmine wouldn't kill Julia, even if she didn't like her. Tarmine was too loyal to her father and to his. "Hey you!" Zero spun around and cursed as a bullet bit into his left arm. He held up his gun and shot the man that had shot him. "That's what you get for SCREWING AROUND!" he did a three-sixty and shot al the while, hitting anyone near enough to hit. The bullets ran out and he dropped the gun, running into the demolished house. He kicked a wall that was still up and ran inside, descending a staircase that would lead him straight to Julia and Alex's room. Sudden flashes of the old war flowed through his head. Reminders of when Julia was almost killed. "God, Lord, don't let me be too late."
Alex shot her gaze toward Tarmine. She'd hit Zechs in the back of the head with her gun, and was now grinning. "Come on, you really think I would shoot you guys after all we've done for eachother? I still owe Julia for beating the crap out of those kids in eleventh." A pounding sound came from one of the room's doors and Alex spun to set her gun on the door. Tarmine watched Julia hold her gun up and carefully walk to it. She opened it, dropped the gun, and grabbed onto Zero. "I thought they took you already!" She cried into his neck. Zero winced and moved his arm from her grasp. "What happened?" "Just a love tap, nothing bad." "A love tap?" Tarmine asked raising an eyebrow. "Yeah," he grinned. "The guy really loved me, so I shot him back. It's one of them their love/hate relationships." "That's enough screwing around, we need to get out of here." Alex said picking Julia's gun back up. "Listen, right now we have about forty guards that aren't busy doing anything. They won't be that hard to get by, but we might want to get somewhere that they won't be able to find us. Our best bet is in the labyrinth." Tarmine said to the other three. She turned to Julia, "Isn't there a medical lab somewhere in there?" "A small one. It's like the fall-out shelter, but it's hidden so well only me, Heero and Alex can find it. It's also guarded by three cats and two wolves." "Alright, let's get going." The four of them started down the halls at a jog, running down the twisting and turning maze. Julia stopped and slammed her fist into the wall, and they all descended down into a dark hole. "Isn't this an oubliette?" Zero asked holding his arm. "No, the oubliettes don't give warning when you fall into them." Alex said as she took a small flashlight from her pocket. She shone it on the far wall and Julia walked over to it, placing her hands on the wall. It lit up, flashed out and things started to beep. Tarmine suddenly gasped and yelped. There was something warm rubbing on her legs, and it was whimpering. The wall started to open and she looked down to see a small, tawny wolf with one blue eye and one brown. It looked up at her, then over at Julia and ran to the girl. "It looks so real." "This one is. I come down every day to feed and water him." Julia picked up the pup and carried him into the medical room on the other side. The others followed and Zero sat on one of the beds. There were five beds and a lot of shiny machines and cabinets. The whole room was white and silver, with packs of IV's hung here and there. The doors and the floor that they come from went back up to make it look like nothing had happened in the labyrinth. Not even Zechs, if he woke, could find this place.
"How did you come down here? You haven't visited anyone for a couple of weeks." Alex said. "There are ways to get in." She sat the small pup down and it yipped, chasing its tail playfully. She walked over to a cabinet and opened it, taking out different items for Zero. Alex sat down on the ground and patted on her lap for the wolf. It yipped again and ran to her, licking her face. She looked up as Julia passed and stood up with the puppy in her arms. She was interested to see how Zero would react to Julia's medical skills. Julia set the small tray down by Zero. She put a rubber band around his upper arm, right above the wound, and then took up a needle. "You never used anesthetics on my gun shots." "You're related to Heero Yuy, you can stand the pain." She looked up at Zero. "Tell me when it's numb. It's still gonna hurt, but not as much as it would if I didn't put this stuff on it." "Gee, thanks." Alex said sarcastically. Zero smiled softly, "It's numb." "As numb as your head." Tarmine looked at Alex and grinned. "I don't think they hear you." "Me either." Julia took up a small tool that looked like tweezers and gently put them in the wound. Zero winced and his right hand balled into a fist, but he kept himself still as Julia kept working. She took out the bullet and everyone's eyes widened. "It's an exploding bullet. How did they get these? I thought only we had the ability to create these." Tarmine said taking the bullet from Julia. Alex's eyes narrowed. How dare he, "Remember, Zechs is a traitor. Zero's lucky it hit him how it did. It disabled the exploding device before it had a chance to react." Julia looked up at Zero and tears welled in her eyes. "My Zero, you could have been killed coming to save me." "But I wasn't, Julia. I wouldn't leave you here alone. I'm not leaving 'til you are." Julia nodded and hugged him gently, then went back to fixing his wound. Alex watched this show with a slight gagging sensation in her stomach. Also the realization that Julia and Zero really did care for eachother. Though they drove eachother up the wall, they helped eachother in difficult times. It was very interesting, sickening, and confusing all at the same time. Julia finished wrapping a bandage around Zero's arm and he hoped down off the table, sweeping Julia off the ground and into his arms. "Oh jeez." Tarmine moaned. "Oh no." Alex agreed. This was followed by a small puppy moan from the wolf and his head going down to rest on Alex's arm.
Julia grinned as Zero kissed her deeply. She kissed back and let him play at her lips for a moment. "Come on, we don't have time for this." Tarmine said with a sigh. Zero pulled away and looked at her for a moment. "Yes we do, you said so yourself." "What's the wolf's name?" Alex asked Julia while she still had the ability to talk. "It's Star." She looked back up at Zero as he put her on the medical table, taking the tray of tools away from it. He climbed up and laid a little on top and to the side of her, leaning down to kiss her deeply. "Oh goody, are we going to have a lesson in sex-ed.?" Alex asked with a very deep, dark sarcasm. "If you want." Julia said grinning. She reached up and kissed Zero deeply, letting her tongue run over Zero's. Their tongues explored each other's mouths and when Julia looked over to see if the two other girls were watching she saw Alex holding Star and Tarmine gawking. Alex's eyes were wide, and it made Julia laugh. "What's wrong, Alex?" "I've never seen anyone kissing that deep. It looks like Zero's eating off your face." Zero laughed and let his head drop a little. It brought his face a little close to the swell of Julia's breasts, and she was suddenly very aware of him and the two others in the room. "Not here." "I know." He raised his face to hers again and kissed her, then got up on his knees and looked down at her smiling softly. "You're a dork." "But I'm a cute dork." "So?" Julia laughed softly and sat up, pulling Zero down to lie by her. She entwined her left hand fingers with his right and let their legs entwine as well. Star yelped and pushed out of Alex's hold, hopping onto the bed between them. "Might as well get comfy," she started. "We'll have to wait a few more hours to get away."
Zero looked back over to Julia as she lay shaking on the bed. Her scar was white against the paleness of her skin. Sweat ran down her face and soaked the front of her sweatshirt. Zero paced back and forth of the bed as Alex sat on another bed reading through a medical books. During the last few hours Julia had gone into a sort of shock. Tremors had started to run through her body every now and then, and Zero was on the edge of panic. Star sat by Julia's head and licked her face, then whimpered and laid by her, putting his head on her chest. "Did she take anything? Come on, why can't you figure this out?!" "Don't yell at me, Zero, it won't help me find what's wrong. The only thing she took was-" Alex looked up and thought back when her father had come. "What is it? What's wrong?!" "Zero, calm down." Tarmine said softly. "I can't calm down." "My dad came in and he... he didn't look right. He gave her birth control pills, but they were little capsules. I-" "AAAAHHHH!!!" Star yipped and fell back from Julia as she screamed out. Zero raced to her bedside and Alex dropped the book, hopping down from the bed she sat on. Tarmine went over, too, holding a cold, wet towel in her hands. Julia's eyes snapped open and she sat up, screaming again in terror. "IT'S COMING, IT'S COMING. NO! I DON'T WANT TO GO!" Zero grabbed Julia and climbed onto the bed as she thrashed around. He didn't want her to hurt herself. "AAAAHHHHH!!! GET OFF OF ME, GET OFF! I DON'T WANT TO DIE LIKE THIS!!! LET ME GO!!!" tears were streaming down her face and sounds too primitive to be screams escaped her mouth. "Alex, what's wrong?!" "I don't know," Alex said with a shaky voice. Tarmine looked at them from the side. "What did your father look like when he came in?" "Like he was lost in thought. His eyes were dilated..." her eyes widened. "No. How?" "You father was the only one that ate dinner, am I right?" "No, Zechs was in there with him." Her eyes narrowed and she formed the letter 'o' with her lips. Zero got it just as Alex did. Her father had been drugged somehow, and had been controlled to take the capsule of only God knew what to Julia. Julia started to scream again, and Star jumped down of the bed to hide in the corner. "I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!!" "Julia, you won't, I'm here Julia." He bent down and put his forehead to her neck. "Please, Julia, remember me." "AAAAHHHH!!!" Alex was suddenly at their side with a needle in her hand. It was filled with a clear liquid that she carefully injected into Julia's trapped arm. The screaming stopped and Julia just lay there panting. Zero looked up at her and she started to cry again. He sat up and took her into his lap, holding her like a baby. "What was that?" "A serum I found in the book. Seems my cousin had figured out how to control the minds of people. In this case, he took Julia's fear of dying and gave her visions of a painful death." "You figured that all out?" he looked down at Julia in his arms. Tears threatened to come from his eyes as a thought crossed his mind. Julia wasn't afraid of dying, she never had been, and it was just how and when that scared her. She'd faced death in all forms of painless and quick, but never had she gone up against the unknown and uncertain. If she didn't know that it would or would be quick, then she wouldn't do it. "I'm the one that created the formulae for mind-control in the first place. I used to use it on Julia when she had nightmares, but I did the opposite effect. I gave her dreams of butterflies and flowers. He added something to turn the effect around."
"Poor Julia." Tarmine whispered. She was sorry now for not liking the girl. Julia hadn't done anything to her. If anything she'd done a lot for her. As the four of them sat there, Julia trembling in Zero's arms, Tarmine recollected on the first time Julia had stuck up for her. It was in eleventh grade, after Tarmine had been beaten up by two of the more popular kids in school. Julia and Zero had always been at the top of the popular list, and no one would have expected Julia to stick up for Tarmine. "Did Julia Maxwell just stick up for me?" She'd asked as she was being taken onto the ambulance. "Yeah, she beat the crap out of both Brent and Courtney." "Isn't she still on probation?" "Yeah, and she violated it for you." Tarmine grinned. "She's a cool kid." "I know. I just figured that one out when I saw what she did to Brent." he bent down and kissed her forehead. "I'll get her and we'll follow you to the hospital." "Alright." Tarmine sighed and handed Zero the wet towel. He took it and gently placed it on Julia's forehead. "There's a war coming. You know who is behind this whole thing. She's planning on getting Julia back." Tarmine whispered. "I know." Zero said delicately. They both looked at Julia, she was sound asleep in Zero's arms, occasionally sniffling softly. "How will we tell her?" "We won't." Alex said simply. She pushed off the wall from where she'd been leaning, walking over to them. "We can't tell Julia, not after all the secrets everyone has kept from her." "She has to know." Tarmine said. "No she doesn't." Alex argued. "I don't have to know what?" Julia whispered from where her head lay in the crook of Zero's arm. "Nothing, angel of mine. Go back to sleep." He looked down at Julia, into her innocent blue eyes. She nodded and rested her head on his shoulder, kissing his neck once, then falling to sleep again. "We can't tell her." Alex pleaded. Zero looked up at Tarmine, then to Alex. "We won't tell her yet, but sooner or later she'll find out." Alex nodded and sighed. "I just hope it's later." "Me too." Tarmine said quietly. Zero kissed behind Julia's ear gently, lying back with her in his arms. "Yeah."