She concentrated hard as she clicked away at the keyboard. Her legs and her chest burned, the rest of her body was in in a dull state of shock from pulling herself from her bed and into the backroom where Wufei's office was hidden. A throbbing pain seared through her injured arm, but she continued hacking into the ELF's new system. A new system that had been completely redesigned since she left them. One, that was far more superior to the intranet system she had designed three years ago.
This new system had better locks and numerous complicated guards. Of course, she hadn't worked at computers for three years and learned nothing of how to hack into complicated cyber territory.
Meiran was working so contentedly, feeling as if she were once again at her home away from home. The screen in front of her flashed as she broke through one of the many locks.
Hours of research and preparations had gone into the building of the Earth's Life Forces database. Even more had gone into the arrangements for a similar, yet more exclusive system covering the World's Database, where the history of the Earth's Sphere had been stored.
Over the years, she had compiled so much data concerning the history of the world, that it took up over forty discs. After 'wandering' into the new ELF system, she had many things she wished to scan over her disks. Since she started the secret project in early 195, she'd been saving the information on her protected disks, since the information held there was often altered by the current leader's Public Representatives.
The name Odin Lowe rang a bell back in her mind. She'd heard it somewhere before. Also, Stuttgart, Germany.... Depending on what steps were taken next, she might have some idea of where to go to look to as a reference. It was amazing how the history of the Earth can often repeat itself, whether it be purposefully or not.
After another half an hour of exhausting dodging, typing, and hacking, Meiran was able to break through the new ELF defenses. This would have been a major feat if she hadn't known the original designs for the World's Database defense system.
After all that work the damn place was the same as the website. Fools. She raged and slamed her fist on the desk in frustration. Her former organization had hearned much from her, though perhaps that was not such a great accomplishment just now. Of course...if the had taken a hint from her, the format would be similar while the content would have taken on the true objectives.
The website had rambled on about how the ELF stood for the promotion of cultural diversity and the many projects the ELF had sponsored to maintain the diversity of the Earth's Sphere. The way it had been done, and how you too could be apart of this wonderful project.
There was also still a part about To Meilan, the original founder of the Earth's Life Forces. Though it was just a little blurb. Given an even smaller light was the ideas to preserve the World's Database.
Meiran's hunch was affirmed as she surfed through the ELF's network system. She discovered the true role of the Phoenix Shipping Company n the current ELF. The PSC had financially supported the ELF since the beginning, even when the main manufacturing plant was located on the earth.
Since Meiran left her own organization to return to her husband, she'd given the ELF over to the company which sponsored it to elect a new leader. The leader chosen was none other than Jonathan Phoenix, founder of the Phoenix Shipping Company. It was also noted that Phoenix supplied manufacturing services to the Preventors.
Under the link that listed goal instead of reading preservation of (cultural) diversity, it read expose preventor's (as Meilun wanted), illustrate that fighting is the way of human nature.
Instead of listing all the community service projects under the accomplishments link, there were four location, accompanied by dates and times.
*198.4.25--10:18--German Clock
Stuttgart, Germany--University Auditorium*
*198.4.26--12:03--German Clock
Sank Kingdom--Peacecraft Mansion*
*198.4.26--2:03--Alalskan Clock
Attu Island, Alaska--Constructions Site*
*198.4.26--24:03--Japanese Clock
Tokyo, Japan--Near Temple of Sengakuji
Meiran looked to the clock on the computer.
12:47 pm.
"Hilde!" Meiran screamed. "Hilde!" She heard thundering footsteps as Hilde the small German girl descended the stairs, following Meiran's voice.
"Meiran! What are you-"
"Turn on the television," Meiran cut her scolding short by means of interuption.
Hilde looked at her wonder, but the urgencies in Meiran's voice kept her from questioning the command aloud. Silently, Hilde flipped on the television while Meiran started printing off bits of information.
"Another bombing has just been announced in Tokyo, Japan. That makes three in the last few days." The reporter said. "The first one taking place in Stuttgart, Germany yesterday morning. The second, behind me at the Peacedraft Mansion in the Sank Kingdom, where Zechs Marquise and companion Lucrezia Noin have been staying since returning to the Earth late last night."
The newscaster put her finger to her ear to better understand the words coming through the ear piece. A look of horror spread across her face as she listened. The hearts of the two women watching clenched, knowing that there had to have been another bombing.
"We have just been informed that a research facility, under construction, in the Aleutian Islands as gone offline completely. All contact has been lost, but a short SOS message was received over a radio, then cut off my a large explosion type sound. It is believed that this place has also fallen prey to the bombing chain.. There is a helicoptier on it's way to confirm, but if reports are... that's four terroists bombings in two days...
"We still have yet to hear from the Preventor's about their stance on the situation and their inability to--"
"Turn it off," Meiran commanded. Hilde complied.
"I don't understand..." Hilde sat, bewildered. "I just don't get it. If they wanted to prove a point, why not just get out there and probe it instead of toying with people's lives like this?"
"Sadly," Meiran responded sullenly, casually, "People feel that they won't be heard otherwise...
A file folder full of papers plummated to the floor as Meiran struggled to hold up herself and the documents.
Hilde frowned. "Oh no you don't. I'll help you back to bed, but the work stays here. You need the rest..."
"I can't leave those out in plain sight!" Meiran was argumentative. "I need to go through them before I give them to WuFei!"
"Hilde gathered the leaves of paper and placed them neatly into a folder. "Then I'll hold onto them, but you must get back into bed, or I'll break your other leg."
Meiran laughed inwardly ar the threat, for she knew that Hilde would never do it, and of course, Meiran would never allow her to try without a fight...
-----------
The stale aftertaste of disaster sprung through the entire disclosed area. The baron wreckage seemed more desolate, more real, more gruesome after a night had past and the sun had dried. The stench of terror wore on, ripping the noses and causing convulsions in the stomachs of onlookers.
"This whole mess seems worse today than it did yesterday..." Duo mused aloud.
Quatre nodded, "The work of terrorists only gets worse...Why are they doing this?"
"That is something none of us understand," Trowa broke in. "That is why we are here to survery this destruction further."
"I guess you're right..." Duo said as his cell phone chirped.
--------------
Relena sat, watching the clock tick the seconds away, listening to the chirping computer beside her. She was bored with the businesses her newly assigned body guard, Odin, was researching.
He had been pecking away for nearly two hours, searching the World's Database Online Network, and looking up various businesses, even going through the Preventor's computer systems. The later wasn't too difficult, since it was in the Preventor's HQ that they sat...
She'd spent that last two hours monitoring Odin's actions, and mulling over the new information that had just been supplied to her, putting it together with the tidbits she already knew. None of them seemed to fit. It seemed if all the pieces were from different puzzles....
Desperate for a way to escape her fleeting, whirring mind for even a few seconds, Relena spoke, breaking her beloved Heero's attention from his work.
"Heero," she began, "Why do you call yourself Odin now?"
It was an innocent enough question she thought, one that no doubt had been pestering her since he had revealed himself as Odin Lowe.
He turned to face the girl whom had always been an annoyance, but always an intriguing figure in his mind. For some reason, she had always been able to freeze his train of thought, distracting him. As he looked upon her now, he was only reminded that she was a distraction, no matter what had happened in the past....
\Flashback////
"I have destroyed Mariemaia. I won't kill anybody ever again, I don't have to anymore...." The last thing he said before his strength failed him and he couldn't stand. He fell to the ground, Relena catching him, holding him in a loving embrace.
"It's over Heero," She'd said. "It's finally...over." With those words he'd relaxed.
\\EndFlashback////
"You wouldn't understand," he answered coldly turning back to his work.
"Try me," Relena shot back, desperate to prove to him again that she was no longer the naive young girl he'd met three years ago.
\Flashback///
After he'd collapsed from exhaustion, she'd brought him home, to the Sanc Kingdom where he could rest. She'd had a doctor check him over, though all his wounds were surprisingly minor scrapes and bruises, none of which were truly visible.
She'd watched him sleep there, in one of the many spare bedrooms. He slept nearly twenty-four hours before awakening . Of course, fighting, for three days straight with virtually no sleep can easily do that to a body. Then, he awoke, startled, and reached for a gun, finding that he had none he stood and surveyed the room. Relena had been sitting in a chair in the corner, dozing a bit. When she noticed him waking she'd played possum, just so that she may watch him without him being threatened.
He'd looked down at her, remembering the promise he'd made to himself after he'd shot an empty round at Mariemaia's head. This promise, of course, meant that Relena would have to live. His eyes softened.
Slowly, Relena fluttered her eyes, pretending to wake up. "Have a nice sleep?" she asked him.
"Why am I here?" he demanded.
"I didn't think you would appreciate being left in the rubble of Mariemaia's castle, so I brought you with me. I hope that's not a problem..."
"hmm..." Was all he'd said before sitting to replace his shoes.
"Must you leave already?"
"Hmmm?"
"I have to address the public concerning the recent happenings tomorrow. Could you at least stay and give me your input on the events. I'd appreciate it."
He looked at her uncertainly.
"I won't ask you to stay longer than my speech. Please Heero," she asked.
"As long as it is for political reasons," he said solemnly, though the statement brought a small smile to his and Relena's faces. Since when was he one to work in politics?
\EndFlashback////
"It's my name."
\Flashback///
"Father, who are you going to kill now?"
"Don't call me that. My name is Odin. I am no father to you."
"Are you not my father?"
"I will not deny it, but no father would raise his son as....The man who fathered you is dead. You are all that is left of him. Odin, don't loose that part of you...."
It was an odd, sentimental moment, awkward, though appreciated...
\\EndFlashback////
"What do you mean it's your name? I thought your name was Heero."
"I told you wouldn't understand," he said in a monotone frighteningly reminiscent of his days in the Eve Wars.
Relena sat back as Heero turned once again to his computer, now even more confused than she was before....
---------
A stoic looking Preventor Marcus Judas stood next to the goofy looking Preventor Pal Legion. Both gave quiet exchanges of success.
A mile away, billowed gargantuan amounts of smothering black smoke, the kind that spills from a tank engine, suffocating. The final flames of the Peacecraft Mansion were extinguished as Zechs and Noin stood off at a distance, both determined not to show the heartbreak they felt at their home being destroyed.
Legion looked to Judas, smirking as the tank engine began sputtering to it' slow stop. "Mission Accomplished," he quipped, causing Judas to crack a small smile.
----------
Duo reached for his phone, annoyed that his work be interrupted, though somewhat looking foreword to the interruption in odd anticipation. Perhaps it was Hilde, a welcome break from the carnage. Checking the caller identification, he found he was wrong. It was Lady Une. Of course, business. Something must have happened. A breakthrough.
He smiled wryly at Quatre he stood, quietly waiting for the end of the impending conversation.
Forcibly he brought the phone to his ear and switched it on, scolding himself for even hoping that the call was recreational. His love would never call while he was on the job...not unless she might be dying...or pregnant--something drastic of the like...
----------
Bushes and plants swiftly passed the window, not allowing time for them to focus. A large green-gray blur filled the car's speeding surroundings. Maniacal driver...
Duo had not been himself lately. By lately of course, I mean since the bombing. He's become fairly protective of everyone. Perhaps that is the reason why the boy is driving at over a hundred miles per hour home.
Poor Quatre doesn't even seem to grasp that the car is moving. The shock of all this is odd for him. He honestly thought we were going to be in a land of peace yet again.
Then there is me, Trowa. Trowa L. Barton. I suppose that I am just one of the bunch. Not quite in a place I belong, though not in a place I don't. Trowa L. Barton. The 'L' stands for Limbo.
---------
Silently the two mismatched Preventor's sat side by side, Wufei driving the car, slowly deliberately. He did not look at the older, curious woman beside him.
On the contrary, she watched his every precarious move. His anger piqued earlier. Zechs's utterance had had quite an affect on him. Why wouldn't the stubborn man just spill it. There was no reason for him to be so quiet, secretive.
Then, she remembered that she was thinking about Chang WuFei. The same stubborn man that had intrigued her so long ago by his determination not to fight those weaker than himself. The same quiet gentleman that had gone so long without a heart to follow, not allowing one to come near enough to even try. Pride.
"Wufei, what happened at the briefing?" she asked cautiously.
"It's called self control, you should try it out," Wufei snorted, hinting for her to stop. Of course, Sally being just a persistent and stubborn as her partner, ploughed on.
"Well, it seemed as though you were taking what was being said about our poor little patient to heart. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you've taken a liking to her...Too bad she's married hmmm?" Sally joked, a bit inappropriately. Surely though, Wufei reminded himself, she couldn't know what she was saying for she didn't know the truth.
"There is--" Wufei began, gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles, his breath almost gone at what he was about to say. "There is a striking resemblance between To Meilun and my wife."
Sally's eyes turned soft, comforting, concerned. She knew of Meiran and her death--the affect it had on Wufei was too obvious to ignore. Though, he kept the secret close to him. Only those he took the chance of offending him learned this secret.
"Wufei..." Sally murmured softly as Wufei pulled into his drive way. "Your wife is dead. She has been--"
"Presumed dead woman, presumed dead," the nearly nineteen year-old, Chinese man stated shortly. Then, curtly he exited the small vehicle to attend his battered wife. He left Sally to wander at the implications of his statement--to ponder the exact meaning of his words.
She watched him go, slowly marching into the house. Confusion danced in her pale green eyes. She decided as she followed Wufei into his house that this was not the time to push for more.
Okay, so I finally finished it. I wonder if this even makes any sense. I'm trying to make it, but it's hard to do. But, I finally finished this chapter. Isn't it nice. Actually, I've read over this so many times that it's nonsense to me anymore. Anyway, it's very early in the morning, and I have to be up in less than seven hours again for church, so I best be getting to my bed. FEEDBACK!!
(Oh yes, standard disclaimer applies here. Hilde would help me, but Duo slipped her some Tylenol PM for her arm, she's pretty much KO'd....But she wanted to try...Just so you know.
This new system had better locks and numerous complicated guards. Of course, she hadn't worked at computers for three years and learned nothing of how to hack into complicated cyber territory.
Meiran was working so contentedly, feeling as if she were once again at her home away from home. The screen in front of her flashed as she broke through one of the many locks.
Hours of research and preparations had gone into the building of the Earth's Life Forces database. Even more had gone into the arrangements for a similar, yet more exclusive system covering the World's Database, where the history of the Earth's Sphere had been stored.
Over the years, she had compiled so much data concerning the history of the world, that it took up over forty discs. After 'wandering' into the new ELF system, she had many things she wished to scan over her disks. Since she started the secret project in early 195, she'd been saving the information on her protected disks, since the information held there was often altered by the current leader's Public Representatives.
The name Odin Lowe rang a bell back in her mind. She'd heard it somewhere before. Also, Stuttgart, Germany.... Depending on what steps were taken next, she might have some idea of where to go to look to as a reference. It was amazing how the history of the Earth can often repeat itself, whether it be purposefully or not.
After another half an hour of exhausting dodging, typing, and hacking, Meiran was able to break through the new ELF defenses. This would have been a major feat if she hadn't known the original designs for the World's Database defense system.
After all that work the damn place was the same as the website. Fools. She raged and slamed her fist on the desk in frustration. Her former organization had hearned much from her, though perhaps that was not such a great accomplishment just now. Of course...if the had taken a hint from her, the format would be similar while the content would have taken on the true objectives.
The website had rambled on about how the ELF stood for the promotion of cultural diversity and the many projects the ELF had sponsored to maintain the diversity of the Earth's Sphere. The way it had been done, and how you too could be apart of this wonderful project.
There was also still a part about To Meilan, the original founder of the Earth's Life Forces. Though it was just a little blurb. Given an even smaller light was the ideas to preserve the World's Database.
Meiran's hunch was affirmed as she surfed through the ELF's network system. She discovered the true role of the Phoenix Shipping Company n the current ELF. The PSC had financially supported the ELF since the beginning, even when the main manufacturing plant was located on the earth.
Since Meiran left her own organization to return to her husband, she'd given the ELF over to the company which sponsored it to elect a new leader. The leader chosen was none other than Jonathan Phoenix, founder of the Phoenix Shipping Company. It was also noted that Phoenix supplied manufacturing services to the Preventors.
Under the link that listed goal instead of reading preservation of (cultural) diversity, it read expose preventor's (as Meilun wanted), illustrate that fighting is the way of human nature.
Instead of listing all the community service projects under the accomplishments link, there were four location, accompanied by dates and times.
*198.4.25--10:18--German Clock
Stuttgart, Germany--University Auditorium*
*198.4.26--12:03--German Clock
Sank Kingdom--Peacecraft Mansion*
*198.4.26--2:03--Alalskan Clock
Attu Island, Alaska--Constructions Site*
*198.4.26--24:03--Japanese Clock
Tokyo, Japan--Near Temple of Sengakuji
Meiran looked to the clock on the computer.
12:47 pm.
"Hilde!" Meiran screamed. "Hilde!" She heard thundering footsteps as Hilde the small German girl descended the stairs, following Meiran's voice.
"Meiran! What are you-"
"Turn on the television," Meiran cut her scolding short by means of interuption.
Hilde looked at her wonder, but the urgencies in Meiran's voice kept her from questioning the command aloud. Silently, Hilde flipped on the television while Meiran started printing off bits of information.
"Another bombing has just been announced in Tokyo, Japan. That makes three in the last few days." The reporter said. "The first one taking place in Stuttgart, Germany yesterday morning. The second, behind me at the Peacedraft Mansion in the Sank Kingdom, where Zechs Marquise and companion Lucrezia Noin have been staying since returning to the Earth late last night."
The newscaster put her finger to her ear to better understand the words coming through the ear piece. A look of horror spread across her face as she listened. The hearts of the two women watching clenched, knowing that there had to have been another bombing.
"We have just been informed that a research facility, under construction, in the Aleutian Islands as gone offline completely. All contact has been lost, but a short SOS message was received over a radio, then cut off my a large explosion type sound. It is believed that this place has also fallen prey to the bombing chain.. There is a helicoptier on it's way to confirm, but if reports are... that's four terroists bombings in two days...
"We still have yet to hear from the Preventor's about their stance on the situation and their inability to--"
"Turn it off," Meiran commanded. Hilde complied.
"I don't understand..." Hilde sat, bewildered. "I just don't get it. If they wanted to prove a point, why not just get out there and probe it instead of toying with people's lives like this?"
"Sadly," Meiran responded sullenly, casually, "People feel that they won't be heard otherwise...
A file folder full of papers plummated to the floor as Meiran struggled to hold up herself and the documents.
Hilde frowned. "Oh no you don't. I'll help you back to bed, but the work stays here. You need the rest..."
"I can't leave those out in plain sight!" Meiran was argumentative. "I need to go through them before I give them to WuFei!"
"Hilde gathered the leaves of paper and placed them neatly into a folder. "Then I'll hold onto them, but you must get back into bed, or I'll break your other leg."
Meiran laughed inwardly ar the threat, for she knew that Hilde would never do it, and of course, Meiran would never allow her to try without a fight...
-----------
The stale aftertaste of disaster sprung through the entire disclosed area. The baron wreckage seemed more desolate, more real, more gruesome after a night had past and the sun had dried. The stench of terror wore on, ripping the noses and causing convulsions in the stomachs of onlookers.
"This whole mess seems worse today than it did yesterday..." Duo mused aloud.
Quatre nodded, "The work of terrorists only gets worse...Why are they doing this?"
"That is something none of us understand," Trowa broke in. "That is why we are here to survery this destruction further."
"I guess you're right..." Duo said as his cell phone chirped.
--------------
Relena sat, watching the clock tick the seconds away, listening to the chirping computer beside her. She was bored with the businesses her newly assigned body guard, Odin, was researching.
He had been pecking away for nearly two hours, searching the World's Database Online Network, and looking up various businesses, even going through the Preventor's computer systems. The later wasn't too difficult, since it was in the Preventor's HQ that they sat...
She'd spent that last two hours monitoring Odin's actions, and mulling over the new information that had just been supplied to her, putting it together with the tidbits she already knew. None of them seemed to fit. It seemed if all the pieces were from different puzzles....
Desperate for a way to escape her fleeting, whirring mind for even a few seconds, Relena spoke, breaking her beloved Heero's attention from his work.
"Heero," she began, "Why do you call yourself Odin now?"
It was an innocent enough question she thought, one that no doubt had been pestering her since he had revealed himself as Odin Lowe.
He turned to face the girl whom had always been an annoyance, but always an intriguing figure in his mind. For some reason, she had always been able to freeze his train of thought, distracting him. As he looked upon her now, he was only reminded that she was a distraction, no matter what had happened in the past....
\Flashback////
"I have destroyed Mariemaia. I won't kill anybody ever again, I don't have to anymore...." The last thing he said before his strength failed him and he couldn't stand. He fell to the ground, Relena catching him, holding him in a loving embrace.
"It's over Heero," She'd said. "It's finally...over." With those words he'd relaxed.
\\EndFlashback////
"You wouldn't understand," he answered coldly turning back to his work.
"Try me," Relena shot back, desperate to prove to him again that she was no longer the naive young girl he'd met three years ago.
\Flashback///
After he'd collapsed from exhaustion, she'd brought him home, to the Sanc Kingdom where he could rest. She'd had a doctor check him over, though all his wounds were surprisingly minor scrapes and bruises, none of which were truly visible.
She'd watched him sleep there, in one of the many spare bedrooms. He slept nearly twenty-four hours before awakening . Of course, fighting, for three days straight with virtually no sleep can easily do that to a body. Then, he awoke, startled, and reached for a gun, finding that he had none he stood and surveyed the room. Relena had been sitting in a chair in the corner, dozing a bit. When she noticed him waking she'd played possum, just so that she may watch him without him being threatened.
He'd looked down at her, remembering the promise he'd made to himself after he'd shot an empty round at Mariemaia's head. This promise, of course, meant that Relena would have to live. His eyes softened.
Slowly, Relena fluttered her eyes, pretending to wake up. "Have a nice sleep?" she asked him.
"Why am I here?" he demanded.
"I didn't think you would appreciate being left in the rubble of Mariemaia's castle, so I brought you with me. I hope that's not a problem..."
"hmm..." Was all he'd said before sitting to replace his shoes.
"Must you leave already?"
"Hmmm?"
"I have to address the public concerning the recent happenings tomorrow. Could you at least stay and give me your input on the events. I'd appreciate it."
He looked at her uncertainly.
"I won't ask you to stay longer than my speech. Please Heero," she asked.
"As long as it is for political reasons," he said solemnly, though the statement brought a small smile to his and Relena's faces. Since when was he one to work in politics?
\EndFlashback////
"It's my name."
\Flashback///
"Father, who are you going to kill now?"
"Don't call me that. My name is Odin. I am no father to you."
"Are you not my father?"
"I will not deny it, but no father would raise his son as....The man who fathered you is dead. You are all that is left of him. Odin, don't loose that part of you...."
It was an odd, sentimental moment, awkward, though appreciated...
\\EndFlashback////
"What do you mean it's your name? I thought your name was Heero."
"I told you wouldn't understand," he said in a monotone frighteningly reminiscent of his days in the Eve Wars.
Relena sat back as Heero turned once again to his computer, now even more confused than she was before....
---------
A stoic looking Preventor Marcus Judas stood next to the goofy looking Preventor Pal Legion. Both gave quiet exchanges of success.
A mile away, billowed gargantuan amounts of smothering black smoke, the kind that spills from a tank engine, suffocating. The final flames of the Peacecraft Mansion were extinguished as Zechs and Noin stood off at a distance, both determined not to show the heartbreak they felt at their home being destroyed.
Legion looked to Judas, smirking as the tank engine began sputtering to it' slow stop. "Mission Accomplished," he quipped, causing Judas to crack a small smile.
----------
Duo reached for his phone, annoyed that his work be interrupted, though somewhat looking foreword to the interruption in odd anticipation. Perhaps it was Hilde, a welcome break from the carnage. Checking the caller identification, he found he was wrong. It was Lady Une. Of course, business. Something must have happened. A breakthrough.
He smiled wryly at Quatre he stood, quietly waiting for the end of the impending conversation.
Forcibly he brought the phone to his ear and switched it on, scolding himself for even hoping that the call was recreational. His love would never call while he was on the job...not unless she might be dying...or pregnant--something drastic of the like...
----------
Bushes and plants swiftly passed the window, not allowing time for them to focus. A large green-gray blur filled the car's speeding surroundings. Maniacal driver...
Duo had not been himself lately. By lately of course, I mean since the bombing. He's become fairly protective of everyone. Perhaps that is the reason why the boy is driving at over a hundred miles per hour home.
Poor Quatre doesn't even seem to grasp that the car is moving. The shock of all this is odd for him. He honestly thought we were going to be in a land of peace yet again.
Then there is me, Trowa. Trowa L. Barton. I suppose that I am just one of the bunch. Not quite in a place I belong, though not in a place I don't. Trowa L. Barton. The 'L' stands for Limbo.
---------
Silently the two mismatched Preventor's sat side by side, Wufei driving the car, slowly deliberately. He did not look at the older, curious woman beside him.
On the contrary, she watched his every precarious move. His anger piqued earlier. Zechs's utterance had had quite an affect on him. Why wouldn't the stubborn man just spill it. There was no reason for him to be so quiet, secretive.
Then, she remembered that she was thinking about Chang WuFei. The same stubborn man that had intrigued her so long ago by his determination not to fight those weaker than himself. The same quiet gentleman that had gone so long without a heart to follow, not allowing one to come near enough to even try. Pride.
"Wufei, what happened at the briefing?" she asked cautiously.
"It's called self control, you should try it out," Wufei snorted, hinting for her to stop. Of course, Sally being just a persistent and stubborn as her partner, ploughed on.
"Well, it seemed as though you were taking what was being said about our poor little patient to heart. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you've taken a liking to her...Too bad she's married hmmm?" Sally joked, a bit inappropriately. Surely though, Wufei reminded himself, she couldn't know what she was saying for she didn't know the truth.
"There is--" Wufei began, gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles, his breath almost gone at what he was about to say. "There is a striking resemblance between To Meilun and my wife."
Sally's eyes turned soft, comforting, concerned. She knew of Meiran and her death--the affect it had on Wufei was too obvious to ignore. Though, he kept the secret close to him. Only those he took the chance of offending him learned this secret.
"Wufei..." Sally murmured softly as Wufei pulled into his drive way. "Your wife is dead. She has been--"
"Presumed dead woman, presumed dead," the nearly nineteen year-old, Chinese man stated shortly. Then, curtly he exited the small vehicle to attend his battered wife. He left Sally to wander at the implications of his statement--to ponder the exact meaning of his words.
She watched him go, slowly marching into the house. Confusion danced in her pale green eyes. She decided as she followed Wufei into his house that this was not the time to push for more.
Okay, so I finally finished it. I wonder if this even makes any sense. I'm trying to make it, but it's hard to do. But, I finally finished this chapter. Isn't it nice. Actually, I've read over this so many times that it's nonsense to me anymore. Anyway, it's very early in the morning, and I have to be up in less than seven hours again for church, so I best be getting to my bed. FEEDBACK!!
(Oh yes, standard disclaimer applies here. Hilde would help me, but Duo slipped her some Tylenol PM for her arm, she's pretty much KO'd....But she wanted to try...Just so you know.