Trowa was sitting in the solarium of Quatre's catching up on the latest fallacies of the morning news. In truth he was thinking about the war. He needed to contact Catherine and tell her that he'd made it to Quatre's okay. He'd left so suddenly that he knew she was undoubtedly worried. Now, he was dressed in a familiar green turtleneck and simple blue jeans, not as tight as they used to fit. He marveled at how they'd all grown, even Dorothy seemed different some how. Quatre was the one that had changed miraculously. The blonde, in his youth, had been innocent, saintly, almost naïve, but shrewd. Now, Quatre seemed distant and cold, worldly and pained. The poor man seemed to have the weight of the world on his shoulders and Trowa couldn't figure out why. Quatre possessed every material item that money could buy in the universe. He was housed well, fed even better, and lived in remote seclusion from the rest of the world and its problems. Quatre was, in a word, a hermit.
Trowa noticed that his friend hadn't even offered to sit with him in the solarium. The old Quatre would have jumped at the chance to have tea and talk amongst the beauty of the morning sunrise. This Quatre, however, seemed to stay in his room away from people. Even when he was trying to reach out to Dorothy he was cold and aloof. The war affected them all differently and Trowa didn't want for Quatre, a once youthful and loving person, to become stoic and angry much like himself. He wished that fate to no one.
"Good morning Trowa," Quatre said standing in the doorway of the solarium. Not even a drop of sunlight glinted his flaxen locks. Trowa looked up from his paper and smirked.
"I see the headline is current." Quatre commented on the large picture of Marimeia with the headline reading "KHUSRENADA AT IT AGAIN." He was still standing in the doorway of the solarium. Trowa looked at the headline of the paper and his eyes narrowed.
"It seems as if she took out Aurora Heights weeks ago. The Preventers didn't stand a chance; this was all planned from the get go. It almost makes me wonder when Wufei will be giving us a call." Trowa said mostly to himself than to Quatre.
"Wufei will not be able to find us here. I'm in the middle of the desert. And if he were to follow me, I'd…"
"You'd run like the coward you are." Dorothy said coming from behind him and walking into the solarium to join Trowa at the table. She poured herself a cup of coffee and started to eat a cheese Danish along with some cantaloupe.
"I'm no coward Dorothy, a coward is…"
"A person who runs from responsibility. You. You'd run if Wufei came knocking at that door. Your face says it. Everything about you says it, Quatre. You're afraid. You were always afraid." Dorothy hadn't stopped eating the delicious food on her plate and hadn't even looked up to see the way her words were affecting Quatre or Trowa. The confused blonde was seething with anger, his aquamarine eyes glowing translucent cobalt and his pale, ashen skin was a fiery crimson from the burning anger within him. He'd not yet come to sit with them, but had taken a step forward from the shadows so that the sunlight was barely grazing his toes. Trowa was more interested in the way Dorothy's words were affecting Quatre. He looked deranged and frightened all at one time and he could tell that her words were undoubtedly true. She was hitting him to the core and she did it so unwittingly and truthfully. Quatre was scared, just like everyone else. Quatre didn't want to fight ever again, and would even come to hide in the desert, forsaking all of them even Trowa to have his seclusion from the reality of the world. He was in a place that still held the ancient marketplace and it's punishment and value system. Trowa, for the first time, realized what Dorothy already new, the desert was not a home to Quatre it was a sanctuary. The desert was a place where he wouldn't have to answer to anyone and he could run away into its sandy crevices if he wished.
"I'm not afraid of anything," his voice was low, a small low whisper that frightened Trowa. He'd heard this voice before- the Zero System.
"You aren't afraid? That's laughable. Your fear is evident. You choose a home that's surrounded by a wasteland, hoping never to be found by anyone. A place where they barely know a war took place, centuries and centuries behind the rest of the universe. To be found by me, a person that you more than likely would never want to see again. How ironic. Running never solves anything Quatre, only courage and bravery, two things that you're lacking right now." She swallowed her coffee. Quatre stepped from the shadows into the sunlight, his eyes irate from the words she'd spoken. Dorothy looked up from her coffee, gave Quatre the once over, then brushed him off with a flick of her blonde hair.
"What do you know of war?" he asked, so calm that the smoothness and composure of his voice even caused shutters to run down Trowa's spine. Dorothy looked up at him in the eyes.
"I know that in war, there are two types of people. Those that give all and those that give up. Which one are you, Quatre?" With those words said she stood from the table and vanished down the shadowed hallway just as quickly as she'd arrived. With a defeated sigh, Quatre plopped down next to Trowa and began to eat silently. Trowa reveled in the silence and continued to read the paper. He'd gotten almost to the end of the article when Quatre finally decided to speak.
"That woman; she's so difficult." Trowa could tell that the blonde was mostly speaking to himself, but he decided to remark anyway.
"Well, she did stab you seven years ago. You wouldn't think that she'd changed completely." Quatre smiled widely at his friend.
"She's changed. I just don't know what about her has changed. We've all changed, Trowa, right down to the way we like our eggs. The peace has made us different." Quatre was silent for the rest of the breakfast. It was a strange silence to Trowa, a man that was used to living in utter silence. Trowa peaked down from the paper once or twice and peered at his friend; Quatre was completely lost in thought. To others it would have been a mystery as to what Quatre was thinking, but to Trowa, the blonde was an open book.
***
"You expect us to ride across the desert on those things?" Roddy eyed the camel then returned her stern gaze to Heero Yuy.
"It's only for three hours. We should reach the house before sundown." Heero remarked pulling three camels behind him. Relena had gone to purchase some things for the trek across the desert, which had left Roddy and Heero alone to get acquainted.
"So you're the infamous Heero Yuy." She said eyeing him incredulously.
"Yeah." He said in his most dead monotone. She smirked at him then grabbed one of the three camels that he was dragging.
"You're in the doghouse with the VFM, huh? What did you do?" Roddy said petting her camel, whom she affectionately referred to as Habib.
"I don't believe that it's any of your business." Heero remarked.
"Suit yourself." She said turning her attentions back to Habib, "but anyone can tell that you and Relena have a thing for one another." Heero snorted in retort to her and started to water the other two camels that he had in his possession.
"Look what I bought for the trip," the soft voice of Relena was heard behind Heero. He turned and looked at her; she was dressed in a pale yellow, linen sari. Her head was covered and a large golden necklace incased her neck. She held up a deep green colored sari for Roddy and smiled. Roddy shook her head in defiance.
"I'm not wearing that." Roddy commented flatly.
"It's a lot cooler than the polyester suit. Besides, you'll feel better if you can get a change of clothes." Relena gave Roddy a winning smile and the woman accepted the sari in defeat.
"I suppose I should change then. I'll be right back." Roddy left the two to go change.
"I hope you were busy getting food and water supplies while you were out on your shopping spree." Heero chastised. Relena took the bag that she was holding in her hand and thrust it into Heero's chest fiercely.
"I got the damned supplies." She said underneath her breath, "So, how far do we have to go?" she asked as she quietly pet the camel.
"The woman at the melon stand said that he lives in an oasis about three hours away. She said that we should be there before nightfall." Heero said looking her in the eyes.
"It will be nice to see Quatre again. It's a pity that it has to be under these circumstances." Relena lowered her head in deep thought. Heero walked over to her trying to comfort her.
"I've failed my people Heero. I couldn't even provide the world with ten years of peace."
"No, but you've given us seven. Which is more than I can say for Treize, or any of the others that so wanted to ruin the world with battle. We've just got to get to Quatre. I'm sure that Trowa has already found him and that Wufei and Duo have already figured out where you are and where you're headed."
"I thought the Perfect Soldier didn't leave trails for people to follow." She looked at him with bemusement.
"He only leaves trails when he wants to be followed." Heero winked at her.
"Well, how do I look?!" Roddy asked, both turned to look at her. She to looked beautiful in her sari.
"Wonderful. Are we ready to go now?" Heero asked helping both women mount their camels and mounting his own.
"Yep. Now if I can only get mine to start." Roddy said aloud, kicking Habib trying to get him to move. Heero turned around and smirked; it was going to be a long day.
***
"Where is she!?" Marimeia screamed from her chair at the dining table. She picked up the daily newspaper and threw it towards Democratic Representative Shelby.
"Madame Khushrenada, the Vice Foreign Minister is on our TO DO list," Shelby replied as he caught the wayward newspaper.
"I don't need a damned TO DO list, Shelby, I need results!!!" She stood from the table and stalked down towards his seat.
"It's been three days since the assassination, which your people failed, and she still hasn't turned up. Not even a body."
"Just because we don't have a body, Madame, doesn't mean that we have to rule out her death." Shelby trembled slightly under the redhead's gaze, "besides, the bomb explosion ruined a lot of our chances of finding her body."
"Well, what of your wife, then, Shelby?" Marimeia asked calmly sipping her tea, trying to choke down some of the anger that she felt rising.
"Dorothy? She was killed, along with me, in our mysterious house explosion, though we haven't yet found her body" Shelby relaxed as Marimeia backed away and walked back towards her chair.
"So you mean to tell me that Relena Peacecraft hasn't been found nor your wife and you just want me to stay calm?" She walked steadily towards the chair and stopped, touching the red velvet armrest with her soft fingertips.
"N-no Madame." Shelby gulped.
"You incompetent bastard!!!" she screamed as she threw the chair into the pale blue walls with a crash, causing the chair to break into small pieces. She then walked over to those left over shards of wood and picked up a broken chair leg with a sharpened, pointed end and stalked towards Shelby.
"Now you listen, Shelby, and you listen good," she said as she pointed the sharpened wood as Shelby's neck, "you find those two women and you find them now! I've lost an insurrection before, I shan't, lose another. While you're at it, find me the five Gundam pilots. Start with Wufei Chang; invade Preventer Headquarters by no later than noon. You have four hours. Go!" she let him up from his chair and almost sprinted out of the room to give the command. Marimeia sat back in her chair and continued to sip her tea with an evil smile on her face.
****
Dorothy sat in the solarium all alone now. It was rather close to noon by the way the sun was hanging and beaming over the solarium. She was sipping tea and enjoying the warmth of the desert sun as she stared out of the windows into the void of sand dunes that surrounded Quatre's desert prison. She chuckled; that's how she'd come to think of this beautiful palace- as a prison. The beauty of the architecture could rival that of the Taj Mahal, but the manner and intensity to which it was built kept a curtain of negativity to hang about the home and it's owner. In this palace, there were no grand and royal colors, no sunlit rooms, only darkness. She sighed then laid her head back into the cushioned, nylon seats and closed her eyes.
"Back in the solarium, I see?" his voice was nice and calm.
"Trowa, I don't believe that you've spoken to me since you've been here. It's been three days." Dorothy said straightening up and somewhat tensing from the man's presence.
"This is important." He said sitting down in an adjacent chair. She'd noticed this about the usually silent former Gundam pilot, he only spoke when need be.
"Ah. It must be about Quatre."
"Yes. You seem to have some sort of hold over him, an understanding, dare a connection that I don't have with him any longer. I used to consider myself his best friend, now he's just so… so…"
"Stoic. I've noticed. I don't feel that strong of a connection to Quatre, but I am alarmed by his coldness. He used to be so gentle, now his heart has hardened."
"This may pose a problem. We're going to need him to plan the attack on Marimeia. He's such a good strategist," Trowa said looking out of the window.
"He's frightened, but of what? He's fought in wars before, without cowardice. Now, he's just so… scared." Dorothy said looking out of the window as well. Trowa turned his eyes to meet hers, but found the profile of blonde hair.
"You seem to know him extremely well." Trowa remarked. Dorothy turned and finally looked the man in the eyes.
"Seven years of marriage will allow you to learn the ways of men. Quatre is no different from any other man."
"Ah, yes, you were married. Democratic Representative Shelby. He was killed when your home was blown up in Aurora Heights, I'm sorry for your loss." Trowa said in a deadpan monotone.
"No need. I didn't even cry when his body was found."
"It's an amazement that you made it out alive." Trowa remarked.
"I can't help think that my husband had something to do with this Marimeia situation." Dorothy said as she and Trowa caught eyes.
"So you think that your husband was with Marimeia and somehow upset her?"
"He was a starch Democratic Representative, I wouldn't be surprised if he got involved with dirty dealings," a tear slid down her cheek as the thoughts and anger burning around her husband built into more welling tears. Trowa offered her a napkin from the table and she quickly wiped her tears away, blushing slightly from the embarrassment of being so vulnerable.
"You once told me that I was a woman that could not cry." She said, looking outside at the beautiful sand.
"I see that I was mistaken. You have really chan…" She put her hand up to stop his words.
"People don't change Trowa; they just realize what they have hidden inside. I will talk with Quatre and give him an offer that he will not be able to refuse. I've been where he is." Dorothy finished and stood from her chair and quickly scampered to her room. Trowa listened as her footsteps disappeared. Heavy steps quickly diminished into light pitter-patters then quickly faded away to nothing, and he was left to listen to the silence.