Hey all! I'm so hyper and I got on a roll typing last night so here is chapter fourteen about a week earlier than I expected to have it out! There's PLENTY more plot twists... if you guys only knew... Anyways, everyone needs to go read "Falling Stars" by Solus Nox. Usually I don't like putting in ads for other stories unless I owe the author something, but this is a really good story that has recieved few reviews. Solus Nox is a really good writer! Go read it!
Bluejello- OMG ur review was so short and funny I was laughing for about ten minutes... My friend read it and thought I was nuts cuz he didn't think it was funny!
Dragon- Batman rocks!
MarsMoonStar- MORE MORE MORE MORE --- Here (look down)
Ann-chan- I RxR'd Love is Blind... CONTINUE!
Star Light- I will finish it! I will! I will!
SINISTER MARMALADE: I'm trying to mature Duo a bit for you, he's just really stubborn sometimes! Tell me what you think of Duo in this chapter!
Wufei could barely think.
"Usagi's been taken..." he whispered, refusing to let it sink in.
Trowa and Hiiro refused to even show their shock. The two of them moved towards Unmei, somehow managing to pick the massive Gundam up and carry it back with them.
Quatre was trying to sense Usagi. He had blocked out the others- the only emotions they were emitting was shock, denial, and pain. Mentally he reached out to Usagi, locking onto her empathy. He felt physical pain as well as emotional pain- she could tell she was extremely worried, not for her sake, but for the safety of the pilots. She was terrified of something, but of what he couldn't quite tell.
When they landed back in the hidden hanger, Wufei was the first to begin to question Hiiro. Duo cut him off quickly.
"Why didn't we see this before? Remember when she went out in the woods those two days- that was probably when she was building it. Then that little Saturn chick nearly blurted out the whole thing but Usagi called it a treehouse. I know there's no treehouse in Quatre's woods- I looked. And then there's the way Usagi acted kind of nervous when we were talking about the tracking device. And in that case, it's no wonder that the Unmei stayed so far away. The pilot knew that we were going to fire at him. The only person who would know that would be Usagi!" Duo finished.
"Okay, you've convinced us, Duo." Quatre said.
"Why didn't we add all this up? We're supposed to notice these things!" Wufei exclaimed. He opened the cockpit door to Unmei and climbed in. Sitting down, he noticed that there were several differences between Unmei's controls and the controls of his own Altron. The controls were smaller and made to fit Usagi's small hands. She had taped three pictures to the inside of the cockpit door- one of Wufei sleeping, one of the whole group of guys, and one of the nine Senshi. After assuring himself that there wasn't anything that could help him in Unmei, he dropped back to the ground.
The first thing that Roanek did as soon as Hiiro was out of sight was to bring out a pair of strange handcuffs. When Usagi whimpered, he smacked her across the face with them, leaving a long cut down the left side of her face. With a shudder, Usagi got the feeling that it was only the first of many. Roanek put the cuffs on her arms. They felt odd to her, with the cuffs beginning at her wrists and going all the way up so that she could just barely bend her elbows. (AN: These are in the series- ya'll know what I'm talking about right?) The cuffs came together between her arms so that she couldn't bring them apart. With a gun to her head, she was pushed along until they came into a hanger with a small ship.
Usagi was shoved into a tiny, closet-like room in the back of the ship. The door was slammed and for a long, long time she just sat there, too afraid to stay awake and too afraid to fall asleep. She could feel Quatre locking his empathy with her and she tried to calm herself down enough that he would be able to figure out what she was thinking. After awhile, she felt his presence fade, so she turned her mind to Wufei, wondering if she'd ever see him again.
Quatre and Duo worked together to convince the other three that there was nothing to be gained from hanging around the Gundams, so the five of them retreated to the apartment. Hiiro immediately began searching OZ databases for any mention of a girl being smuggled into another base, or anything that might relate to where Usagi was being kept. After awhile, Duo approached the stoic one.
"Hey Hiiro, can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked, sitting on the bed next to the desk where Hiiro was. Hiiro stopped typing and turned to face Duo.
"Why are you so worried about Usagi? I mean, Wufei's doing the same thing but he loves Usagi." Duo asked. Hiiro decided that it was about time that Duo and the others start to understand him, so he answered.
"Usagi is- so many different things to me." he began. "Sometimes she's like the mother I never had, other times she's like a sister, and sometimes she even feels like the daughter I'll never have. I care about her. Not the same way Wufei does, but still- I care enough to want to get her out of there as fast as possible. I know what OZ does to it's prisoners... How do you feel about her?"
(AN: That was totally OOC but I think it's about time these guys stop being so flat and start showing that they're capable of change. So get over it!)
Duo was surprised, to say the least.
"Damn, Hiiro, man. I feel the same way. I dunno, but she's... incredible. I mean, look at what she's done for us. Even you're acting normal." the two were silent for a moment, just understanding for the first time the bond between them.
"I wonder why she did it." Trowa said as he joined them. "Why would she still willingly fight?" Wufei and Quatre were close behind.
"I honestly think that she is such a loving, caring, amazing person that we can't begin to imagine her reasoning behind it." Quatre said.
"I don't want her to die. That's all I can say." Wufei replied. "We've all seen the way OZ treats some of their prisoners. They're going to beat the shit out of her until she tells them what they want to know."
"Most likely they'll want to know where we're hiding." Hiiro said.
"She's strong, remember. She won't give in easily." Trowa reminded them.
"We need to find out where she is." Duo urged. "We can't leave her with those monsters."
"I'm especially concerned about if she'll try to escape on her own," Hiiro said. "Because they'll shoot her on the spot."
"Or what if she tries to use the Ginzuishou? They'll freak and just beat her even more until she tells them what it is." Wufei added.
"I think this is one mission we're could accomplish best together." Quatre said.
"I agree. Let's get to work." Hiiro concluded.
Usagi jolted awake with the landing of the ship. Embarassed that she had fallen asleep, she braced herself as the door was swung open and she was grabbed by the hands. A burly soldier dragged her off the ship and down the narrow stairs to the ground. He left her there for a few moments while he talked with another uniformed man. Then she was grabbed again, though this time it was by the hair. She tried to stand and keep pace with the man, but she kept stumbling and getting dragged along until she could get the strength to try to stand again. The man opened a steel door and deposited her on the cold steel floor. He slammed the door shut behind him, and she could hear the lock slide home.
"I guess talking to me is forbidden?" she asked the silence sarcastically. Usagi dragged herself off the floor and looked around the darkened room. To her disappointment she saw that there was a camera watching her every move. She realized that the camera meant that she wouldn't be able to heal herself, no matter what they did to her.
Usagi lent against the wall and sank down to the floor, burying her head in her knees.
It was about half an hour later when the door was swung open again, banging against the inside wall and startling her. She was once more dragged to her feet and down hallways until the same soldier as before opened another door and brought her into a very well lit room. He sat her in a hard wooden chair and locked her ankles to it with cuffs almost like the ones on her wrists. It was only about three seconds before Roanek entered the room with a higher-ranking man and about five new soldiers. They didn't beat around the bush- they got straight to interrogating her.
"Who are you?" the new man demanded- his nametag read "Basne".
"No one." she replied. Basne laughed sarcastically.
"Look what we have here!" he laughed again. "I'll ask once more- Who are you?"
"No one." she repeated. A mad glint entered Basne's eyes and he signaled to one of the others. He and Roanek retreated to a corner of the small room and talked quietly as another man approached Usagi. He cracked his knuckles and reared back, swinging a hard punch to her jaw. She grimaced as she heard the bone crack and pain exploded through her face. The man punched her again and again. Sometimes the chair would tip over from the force of the blows, and she would crack her head on the hard floor. But the man would only turn the chair rightside up and begin again. After twenty minutes, he leaned down to whisper in her ear.
"You know I really don't like having to hurt a gorgeous girl like you- why don't you just answer his question?"
"Go to hell!" she told him. He grunted and punched her once more before addressing the two men in the corner.
"I'm done." he announced. Usagi's face was already turning black and blue; she had blood dripping from a huge cut on her forehead.
"So are we. Take her back." Gasne commanded. The burly man moved from the doorway he had stood at and grabbed her by the wrists again. This time she stumbled even more as she tried to gain balance and walk.
The man dumped her on the floor again, where she pulled her knees up to her chest and tried to sleep.
This continued on- for how long, she didn't know. It seemed like every time they took her out of the dark prison, she returned in even worse shape. She would curl up on the floor, and as soon as the pain would begin to ebb, they would come and drag her out again. The punishment had gotten exceedingly worse every time, and she had lost count of the trips she had made to the little room with the wooden chair. By this time, she could barely move- they had beaten her body with a steel cane and whipped her back. Her clothes were covered with blood, and the red substance caked her hair and face, too. She was beginning to doubt they would keep her alive for much longer. Usagi groaned as the door opened again.
Six hours had passed. Wufei was going crazy with worry as Hiiro checked their plans for the last time. Quatre had passed out a few times, feeling the intensity of Usagi's pain. Trowa sat next to him on the couch to ensure that Quatre didn't 'die on them', as Duo put it. Quatre came to again, gasping for breath.
"Hiiro, we have to go. NOW!" the blonde Arabian exclaimed. Hiiro listened for once- the apartment was empty within the next thirty seconds, heading towards the only OZ facility that had recieved a transporter of the same size as the one that Roanek had taken Usagi in.
Usagi grunted as another blow came, this time to her left side. They were using that steel pole again, and hitting her so hard that the chair fell over every time. Sometimes they didn't even bother to pick her up, they just beat as she was lying there on the floor.
But she wouldn't cry out- not aloud, anyway. In her mind she screamed for Wufei to help her, screamed for someone to save her. Even as they resorted to kicking her with their thick black boots, she wouldn't give them the pleasure of screaming.
Suddenly the building was rocked with an explosion-
"What the hell is going on out there?" Basne demanded. "Take her back- Now!!" One of the soldiers- she didn't even distinquish one from another any more- dragged her by the wrists back to the room and deadbolted it shut. Usagi barely had enough energy to curl up on the floor.
"Here comes Shinigami!" Duo hollered. He had viied for the easy job- He got to stay in his Gundam and blow stuff up! Hiiro was going in to get Usagi since Wufei agreed that he was too upset to go in and Quatre couldn't go in because he kept blacking out- Sandrock was well hidden in the forest nearby. Heavyarms was posititoned in front of Sandrock, making sure no mobile suit could come near. Wufei and Duo were creating small explosions around the outside of the base.
Hiiro ran swiftly and silently down the hallways- his steeltrap mind had already memorized the blueprints for the base and he knew exactly where she would be. When he reached the hallway, he was surprised to find only two guards in front of the door. He sweepkicked one and punched the other- both were blacked out on the floor in two seconds. It took him another five seconds to pick the lock and open the door.
"Nande kuso..." he breathed, looking at the curled up figure on the ground. Hiiro moved forward and checked her pulse, letting out a sigh of relief when he found a strong one. He gently picked Usagi up and cradled her against his chest. She opened her eyes slightly and looked up at him through blood-encrusted eyelids.
"Hi-iiro?" she managed to choke out.
"Hai, I'm here." Hiiro replied. "Rest, we'll be out soon." Usagi smiled a little and closed her eyes, allowing herself to relax against him. Not wanting to waste any more precious time, Hiiro ran out the door and back down the narrow hallways, taking out five soldiers as he went in his anger.
"I'm back, let's go." he said to the others as he closed the cockpit door behind him.
"How is she?" Wufei demanded. Hiiro refused to visually link with any of them.
"Bad." he replied.
"Dammit let me see her!" the Chinese one exploded.
"No! We go back first!" he insisted, taking off. The others followed.
Duo: That's no cliffhanger!
AKA: You said that a few chapters ago.
Duo: Oh yeah... Nevermind.
Wufei: Stupid American.
AKA: Hey I'm American!
Wufei: Errr...
Quatre: Must you bicker so much?
AKA, Wufei, Duo: YUP!
AKA: *Glares at Duo* Go.
Duo: Stay tuned for chapter fifteen: The Gates of He!!
AKA: Good boy.
Bluejello- OMG ur review was so short and funny I was laughing for about ten minutes... My friend read it and thought I was nuts cuz he didn't think it was funny!
Dragon- Batman rocks!
MarsMoonStar- MORE MORE MORE MORE --- Here (look down)
Ann-chan- I RxR'd Love is Blind... CONTINUE!
Star Light- I will finish it! I will! I will!
SINISTER MARMALADE: I'm trying to mature Duo a bit for you, he's just really stubborn sometimes! Tell me what you think of Duo in this chapter!
Wufei could barely think.
"Usagi's been taken..." he whispered, refusing to let it sink in.
Trowa and Hiiro refused to even show their shock. The two of them moved towards Unmei, somehow managing to pick the massive Gundam up and carry it back with them.
Quatre was trying to sense Usagi. He had blocked out the others- the only emotions they were emitting was shock, denial, and pain. Mentally he reached out to Usagi, locking onto her empathy. He felt physical pain as well as emotional pain- she could tell she was extremely worried, not for her sake, but for the safety of the pilots. She was terrified of something, but of what he couldn't quite tell.
When they landed back in the hidden hanger, Wufei was the first to begin to question Hiiro. Duo cut him off quickly.
"Why didn't we see this before? Remember when she went out in the woods those two days- that was probably when she was building it. Then that little Saturn chick nearly blurted out the whole thing but Usagi called it a treehouse. I know there's no treehouse in Quatre's woods- I looked. And then there's the way Usagi acted kind of nervous when we were talking about the tracking device. And in that case, it's no wonder that the Unmei stayed so far away. The pilot knew that we were going to fire at him. The only person who would know that would be Usagi!" Duo finished.
"Okay, you've convinced us, Duo." Quatre said.
"Why didn't we add all this up? We're supposed to notice these things!" Wufei exclaimed. He opened the cockpit door to Unmei and climbed in. Sitting down, he noticed that there were several differences between Unmei's controls and the controls of his own Altron. The controls were smaller and made to fit Usagi's small hands. She had taped three pictures to the inside of the cockpit door- one of Wufei sleeping, one of the whole group of guys, and one of the nine Senshi. After assuring himself that there wasn't anything that could help him in Unmei, he dropped back to the ground.
The first thing that Roanek did as soon as Hiiro was out of sight was to bring out a pair of strange handcuffs. When Usagi whimpered, he smacked her across the face with them, leaving a long cut down the left side of her face. With a shudder, Usagi got the feeling that it was only the first of many. Roanek put the cuffs on her arms. They felt odd to her, with the cuffs beginning at her wrists and going all the way up so that she could just barely bend her elbows. (AN: These are in the series- ya'll know what I'm talking about right?) The cuffs came together between her arms so that she couldn't bring them apart. With a gun to her head, she was pushed along until they came into a hanger with a small ship.
Usagi was shoved into a tiny, closet-like room in the back of the ship. The door was slammed and for a long, long time she just sat there, too afraid to stay awake and too afraid to fall asleep. She could feel Quatre locking his empathy with her and she tried to calm herself down enough that he would be able to figure out what she was thinking. After awhile, she felt his presence fade, so she turned her mind to Wufei, wondering if she'd ever see him again.
Quatre and Duo worked together to convince the other three that there was nothing to be gained from hanging around the Gundams, so the five of them retreated to the apartment. Hiiro immediately began searching OZ databases for any mention of a girl being smuggled into another base, or anything that might relate to where Usagi was being kept. After awhile, Duo approached the stoic one.
"Hey Hiiro, can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked, sitting on the bed next to the desk where Hiiro was. Hiiro stopped typing and turned to face Duo.
"Why are you so worried about Usagi? I mean, Wufei's doing the same thing but he loves Usagi." Duo asked. Hiiro decided that it was about time that Duo and the others start to understand him, so he answered.
"Usagi is- so many different things to me." he began. "Sometimes she's like the mother I never had, other times she's like a sister, and sometimes she even feels like the daughter I'll never have. I care about her. Not the same way Wufei does, but still- I care enough to want to get her out of there as fast as possible. I know what OZ does to it's prisoners... How do you feel about her?"
(AN: That was totally OOC but I think it's about time these guys stop being so flat and start showing that they're capable of change. So get over it!)
Duo was surprised, to say the least.
"Damn, Hiiro, man. I feel the same way. I dunno, but she's... incredible. I mean, look at what she's done for us. Even you're acting normal." the two were silent for a moment, just understanding for the first time the bond between them.
"I wonder why she did it." Trowa said as he joined them. "Why would she still willingly fight?" Wufei and Quatre were close behind.
"I honestly think that she is such a loving, caring, amazing person that we can't begin to imagine her reasoning behind it." Quatre said.
"I don't want her to die. That's all I can say." Wufei replied. "We've all seen the way OZ treats some of their prisoners. They're going to beat the shit out of her until she tells them what they want to know."
"Most likely they'll want to know where we're hiding." Hiiro said.
"She's strong, remember. She won't give in easily." Trowa reminded them.
"We need to find out where she is." Duo urged. "We can't leave her with those monsters."
"I'm especially concerned about if she'll try to escape on her own," Hiiro said. "Because they'll shoot her on the spot."
"Or what if she tries to use the Ginzuishou? They'll freak and just beat her even more until she tells them what it is." Wufei added.
"I think this is one mission we're could accomplish best together." Quatre said.
"I agree. Let's get to work." Hiiro concluded.
Usagi jolted awake with the landing of the ship. Embarassed that she had fallen asleep, she braced herself as the door was swung open and she was grabbed by the hands. A burly soldier dragged her off the ship and down the narrow stairs to the ground. He left her there for a few moments while he talked with another uniformed man. Then she was grabbed again, though this time it was by the hair. She tried to stand and keep pace with the man, but she kept stumbling and getting dragged along until she could get the strength to try to stand again. The man opened a steel door and deposited her on the cold steel floor. He slammed the door shut behind him, and she could hear the lock slide home.
"I guess talking to me is forbidden?" she asked the silence sarcastically. Usagi dragged herself off the floor and looked around the darkened room. To her disappointment she saw that there was a camera watching her every move. She realized that the camera meant that she wouldn't be able to heal herself, no matter what they did to her.
Usagi lent against the wall and sank down to the floor, burying her head in her knees.
It was about half an hour later when the door was swung open again, banging against the inside wall and startling her. She was once more dragged to her feet and down hallways until the same soldier as before opened another door and brought her into a very well lit room. He sat her in a hard wooden chair and locked her ankles to it with cuffs almost like the ones on her wrists. It was only about three seconds before Roanek entered the room with a higher-ranking man and about five new soldiers. They didn't beat around the bush- they got straight to interrogating her.
"Who are you?" the new man demanded- his nametag read "Basne".
"No one." she replied. Basne laughed sarcastically.
"Look what we have here!" he laughed again. "I'll ask once more- Who are you?"
"No one." she repeated. A mad glint entered Basne's eyes and he signaled to one of the others. He and Roanek retreated to a corner of the small room and talked quietly as another man approached Usagi. He cracked his knuckles and reared back, swinging a hard punch to her jaw. She grimaced as she heard the bone crack and pain exploded through her face. The man punched her again and again. Sometimes the chair would tip over from the force of the blows, and she would crack her head on the hard floor. But the man would only turn the chair rightside up and begin again. After twenty minutes, he leaned down to whisper in her ear.
"You know I really don't like having to hurt a gorgeous girl like you- why don't you just answer his question?"
"Go to hell!" she told him. He grunted and punched her once more before addressing the two men in the corner.
"I'm done." he announced. Usagi's face was already turning black and blue; she had blood dripping from a huge cut on her forehead.
"So are we. Take her back." Gasne commanded. The burly man moved from the doorway he had stood at and grabbed her by the wrists again. This time she stumbled even more as she tried to gain balance and walk.
The man dumped her on the floor again, where she pulled her knees up to her chest and tried to sleep.
This continued on- for how long, she didn't know. It seemed like every time they took her out of the dark prison, she returned in even worse shape. She would curl up on the floor, and as soon as the pain would begin to ebb, they would come and drag her out again. The punishment had gotten exceedingly worse every time, and she had lost count of the trips she had made to the little room with the wooden chair. By this time, she could barely move- they had beaten her body with a steel cane and whipped her back. Her clothes were covered with blood, and the red substance caked her hair and face, too. She was beginning to doubt they would keep her alive for much longer. Usagi groaned as the door opened again.
Six hours had passed. Wufei was going crazy with worry as Hiiro checked their plans for the last time. Quatre had passed out a few times, feeling the intensity of Usagi's pain. Trowa sat next to him on the couch to ensure that Quatre didn't 'die on them', as Duo put it. Quatre came to again, gasping for breath.
"Hiiro, we have to go. NOW!" the blonde Arabian exclaimed. Hiiro listened for once- the apartment was empty within the next thirty seconds, heading towards the only OZ facility that had recieved a transporter of the same size as the one that Roanek had taken Usagi in.
Usagi grunted as another blow came, this time to her left side. They were using that steel pole again, and hitting her so hard that the chair fell over every time. Sometimes they didn't even bother to pick her up, they just beat as she was lying there on the floor.
But she wouldn't cry out- not aloud, anyway. In her mind she screamed for Wufei to help her, screamed for someone to save her. Even as they resorted to kicking her with their thick black boots, she wouldn't give them the pleasure of screaming.
Suddenly the building was rocked with an explosion-
"What the hell is going on out there?" Basne demanded. "Take her back- Now!!" One of the soldiers- she didn't even distinquish one from another any more- dragged her by the wrists back to the room and deadbolted it shut. Usagi barely had enough energy to curl up on the floor.
"Here comes Shinigami!" Duo hollered. He had viied for the easy job- He got to stay in his Gundam and blow stuff up! Hiiro was going in to get Usagi since Wufei agreed that he was too upset to go in and Quatre couldn't go in because he kept blacking out- Sandrock was well hidden in the forest nearby. Heavyarms was posititoned in front of Sandrock, making sure no mobile suit could come near. Wufei and Duo were creating small explosions around the outside of the base.
Hiiro ran swiftly and silently down the hallways- his steeltrap mind had already memorized the blueprints for the base and he knew exactly where she would be. When he reached the hallway, he was surprised to find only two guards in front of the door. He sweepkicked one and punched the other- both were blacked out on the floor in two seconds. It took him another five seconds to pick the lock and open the door.
"Nande kuso..." he breathed, looking at the curled up figure on the ground. Hiiro moved forward and checked her pulse, letting out a sigh of relief when he found a strong one. He gently picked Usagi up and cradled her against his chest. She opened her eyes slightly and looked up at him through blood-encrusted eyelids.
"Hi-iiro?" she managed to choke out.
"Hai, I'm here." Hiiro replied. "Rest, we'll be out soon." Usagi smiled a little and closed her eyes, allowing herself to relax against him. Not wanting to waste any more precious time, Hiiro ran out the door and back down the narrow hallways, taking out five soldiers as he went in his anger.
"I'm back, let's go." he said to the others as he closed the cockpit door behind him.
"How is she?" Wufei demanded. Hiiro refused to visually link with any of them.
"Bad." he replied.
"Dammit let me see her!" the Chinese one exploded.
"No! We go back first!" he insisted, taking off. The others followed.
Duo: That's no cliffhanger!
AKA: You said that a few chapters ago.
Duo: Oh yeah... Nevermind.
Wufei: Stupid American.
AKA: Hey I'm American!
Wufei: Errr...
Quatre: Must you bicker so much?
AKA, Wufei, Duo: YUP!
AKA: *Glares at Duo* Go.
Duo: Stay tuned for chapter fifteen: The Gates of He!!
AKA: Good boy.