Late that evening, I drove the train station to pick Maia up, since I'd been forced to cast Sleep on all three of the men to ease their grief and exhaustion. As I waited for her train to arrive, I sat on the hood of the car and chain smoked, wondering why this all happened. There had to be a more complicated explanation as to why Gideon had snapped and why he felt he had to destroy my life, but I wasn't able to come up with anything. Sure, I'd cheated, even though I hadn't realized it at the time, but that wasn't a good enough excuse to murder a four year old girl and two women. And, yeah, I beat the shit out of him and shot him in the knee, but he tried to kill me, for Hyne's sake. Could he really blame me for acting in self defense?
What I was able to understand was that he had always been disturbed. Rinoa's memories told me a hundred stories of his worrisome behavior, and I couldn't deny that there had always been some kind of imbalance. What I didn't understand was how we could all miss it. In hindsight, there were so many signs of his psychosis, but none of us had ever picked up on it. What we'd seen was a funny, talented guy, not a cold blooded murderer, and none of us would have ever dreamed he'd do something like this.
When Maia's train pulled into the station, I walked slowly to the platform. She was the only passenger to exit the train, and she carried only her gunblade case and a duffle bag with her. I'd expected that she too would be distraught, but I was surprised to see her dry eyed without a trace of expression on her face. "Hey," I greeted as I took the bag from her.
Maia merely nodded her greeting and opened the car door.
"Wait," I cautioned her as I crouched down and slid underneath the car in search of any suspicious attachments. The undercarriage of the car looked normal, so I popped the hood and found it to be devoid of any abnormal device. I'd done this before I drove to pick her up, but I wasn't going to take any chances. The car had been out of sight for several minutes, so it was a good idea to check again.
"What are you doing?" she asked me as I felt along the inside of the wheel wells for anything suspicious.
"You don't want to know."
She stared at me with a blank expression.
I opened the driver side door and felt underneath the seats and opened the glove box. There was nothing out of the ordinary. "Ok," I said. "Get in."
Maia climbed in and put her things in the back seat. As she bucked her seat belt, she turned to me and stared in a strange way. "What's going on? Why are you acting so paranoid."
"Because I am paranoid," I said and I lit a cigarette. "It's complicated."
"So explain it," she replied. "I've got time."
I sighed and sat back in my seat. I faced quite a dilemma in whether or not to tell her. I could trust her, no doubt, but I didn't know if she'd believe me.
"Whatever is going on, it involves me too," she said, "so you might as well spill it."
So I told her everything that had happened thus far. I didn't give her as much detail as I'd given Gabriel, but enough to understand the situation. She was right, after all. Her mother had died because of this mess, and I think maybe she wanted vengeance too. Though her expression remained calm, I could sense a deep rage brewing within her. I didn't know how I knew this, since she appeared emotionless, but I was sure she was angry.
What got me was her lack of surprise. She'd known too, about Gideon's tendencies towards the psychotic, and she took the news rather well. "I'm surprised he held out this long," she mumbled and rolled down the window.
I cocked my head in curiosity. "You knew?"
"I've always known what he was," she said and wiped her chocolate bangs from her eyes.
"How did you know?"
"I don't want to answer that," she said and her lip trembled ever so slightly. In her eyes was a deep hurt, and I couldn't help but feel a surge of protectiveness towards her.
"Maia, please?"
I'd never seen her cry before, so I was shocked to see tears spill from the corners of her eyes. "Micala, please. It's best if I don't talk about it."
I placed my hand on hers and could feel the tremor of fear in her bones. He'd done something to her, something ugly, and it must have been bad, for Maia Leonhart was one of the most emotionally restrained people I'd ever met. "Maia, what did he do to you?" I whispered. "Please, tell me."
Maia took a deep breath and sighed. Her voice was steady and composed "If I tell you, you have to swear to me that you won't repeat a word. Not to anyone, not even Gabriel."
"I promise," I said and squeezed her hand gently in mine.
"When I was eleven or twelve, he used to come to my room at night . . . and touch me. He would tell me it was normal, that we were supposed to mess around like that," she said. There was a bitter edge to her voice, as if somewhere inside she harbored a deep hatred for him, and I can't blame her a bit for that. "It went on for a few months like that, and then one night, when everyone was gone, he raped me. In my own bed, in my own house, and there was no one around to hear me scream.. And after that, any opportunity to be alone with me, he took."
"How long?" I managed to whisper.
"Until he took off."
"Oh, Maia," I breathed. My throat tightened and I felt a chill pass through me. I tightened my grip on her hand. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"Do you really think anyone would have believed me?" she asked as she turned her blue eyes towards me. "Besides, he said if I told anyone, he'd kill mom and dad, Gabriel, and then me. Said he'd make me watch while he killed them, and he was serious, too."
It shouldn't have been a surprise that Gideon would do something like that to his own sister. It shouldn't have shocked me, but it did. It was sick and wrong. He'd stolen away her innocence, taken what was not his to take from her, what should have been given to someone else of her own free will. Hyne, the relief she must have felt when he left. I can only imagine how it must have been for her, to keep a secret like that. Maia was four years my junior, and my relationship with Gideon had lasted more than a year before he took off. To think, all that time Gideon and I had dated, he'd been molesting Maia. The more I learned about Gideon, the less I wanted to know. The shit was getting way too deep for my liking, and all I wanted to do was end this.
"Maia, I'm sorry," I whispered and hugged her. She resisted a little, but then I felt her arms encircle me and she sobbed into my shoulder for what seemed like an hour but was probably only a few minutes. I felt so badly for her. To keep it secret for years, it must have been a terrible weight on her shoulders. How small and afraid she must have felt. She'd been to young to fight back, and at the time, Gideon was amazingly strong. I can imagine how out matched she'd been, considering she'd inherited her mother's lithe frame, and that Gideon was apparently possessed by the devil.
"You don't know how good it feels to finally tell someone about this," she said when she pulled away. "I just never imagined it would be you I told."
I felt a kind of sisterly affection for her, a need to protect her. It was strange, feeling that way towards someone not related to me, but I couldn't help it. "Well, Maia," I said softly. "Whether you know it or not, you've got a friend in me."
"A friend?" she asked, a little surprised.
"Yeah."
"Thank you," she whispered and smiled a little.
It was nearly dawn when we arrived at the Leonhart's house. Maia went directly to her room, claiming exhaustion, so I checked on you, daddy, and found that you were sound asleep in the guest room. Squall too, was snoring lightly in the master bedroom that just hours before, he'd shared with his wife. With a weary sigh, I ascended the stairs to Gabriel's room. The only free room was Gideon's, and I'd be damned if I was going to sleep in there.
Slowly, I undressed and climbed into the bed beside Gabriel, leaned my head into his shoulder and slung my arm across his chest. He stirred a little, opened his eyes and yawned. "Hi," he said and turned his body to face mine.
"Hi," I whispered back and gave him a peck on the lips.
"You been up all night?"
I nodded and tried to stifle a yawn of my own. "Maia's home."
"Thanks for picking her up."
"No problem."
He paused. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you, Micala. About Gideon."
"Told you I wasn't nuts," I said and buried my face in his chest. His hand gently traced the contours of my back and I found this to be very relaxing. "Hmm, that feels nice," I murmured and yawned.
"Did you get in touch with Laguna and Julien?"
"Yep. They're going to fly in first thing tomorrow on the Armageddon."
"Maybe they should just stay in Esthar. They might be in less danger there."
"Gabe, it doesn't matter where they are. If Gideon wants them dead, he'll find some way to do it."
"I know . . ." he whispered as tears filled his eyes. "Just can't believe Gideon did this, you know? I never saw it coming."
"Nobody did."
"I'm . . . scared for you."
"Don't be," I said. "But understand that I'm going to have to kill him."
He put his finger to my lips, indicating that he didn't want to talk about it. I understood why he wouldn't want to hear me speak of killing his flesh and blood. I think he still had some hope it was all a mistake.
I wondered if Gideon had ever done anything to hurt him, but I didn't ask. "Hold me," I whispered instead, as I snuggled closer. "I want to feel your arms around me."
"All right, but I'll warn you, once I've got you I'll never let go," he said in my ear as he wrapped his arms around me.
"Hmm, that sounds good to me," I murmured. I was unable to keep
my eyes open, and soon, I drifted to sleep, locked in his embrace.
I only slept for a few hours before I woke from a nightmare about Aida. After that, I couldn't go back to sleep, so I dressed and looked in on Squall, and then on you, daddy. Both of you were still sound asleep, so I peeked in Maia's door, and was surprised to see her sitting in one of the two chairs by the window, staring out at the ocean. There was a stiff wind that made the sea choppy, and the waves were ideal for surfing.
"Hey," I called to her.
"Come in," she said without looking at me.
I entered and took a seat across from her. "You all right?"
She nodded and placed her fingertips in her mouth. She'd always had this habit of biting her nails. Most people do it when they're nervous or frustrated, but with Maia, she never appeared to be either. "You slept in Gabriel's room."
"Yeah," I said and felt my cheeks flare with embarrassment.
She raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. "Does he know about Gideon?"
I could only nod.
Maia sighed and said, "So what are we going to do?"
"We are going to do nothing. I am going to kill him."
"I have a reason to want him dead too," she said and stared back at me. "He fucked up my life, Micala. He killed my mother, consequently fucking up what's left of my father's life."
"Fine, we'll work together," I said, not really loving the idea. "Problem is, we don't know what he has planned next."
"Use the information I gave you last night. He'll be so ticked that I told someone, he'll come running to us."
"You sure you want to do that, Maia? Gabe's already on his shit list, but as far as I know, your father's still safe. What if he comes for him instead?"
Maia rubbed her eyes. "I didn't say I had it all figured out."
I sat back in the chair and closed my eyes. "Maia, I don't want to risk anyone else's life over this. It's me he wants, so we have to figure out a way to get him to come to me."
"How do we do that?"
It was then that the idea came to me, and together, we formulated a
plan that just might work.
**notes**
Hope you had a great holiday...... :)