Man, Guys, I'm so sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, but it's here. It was going to be twice as long, but I decided I'd made everyone wait too long for this, so I'm splitting it up.

It's probably about a little more than half over, well, maybe about half over. But in that area.

Standard Dislcaimer applies...enjoy. >
"Seven! I need seven Yuy!" Une stammered to the screen.

I will not fight, so stop asking. I'm com or not at all."

Une sat, defeated. "Will Duo?"

"You know he won't lead."

"He has the skills--"

"But not the experience. He won't go into combat, at least as a troop leader with no prior experience"

"I need seven."

"Zechs?"

"Not arriving until late morning. Will you?"

"I'm not going into this battle as a warrior."

He hung up.

"Damn it!" She slammed the clamshell vid-phone shut wth such a force that the screen split.

Dividing 350 soldiers between six troop leaders.

Fifty-eightt Winner, Barton, and Judas. Fifty-nine to Po, Chang, and Legion.

Sally was gathering the troops and checking out weapons. The leaders were due to arrive within the hour.

'Such a rushed event Master Treize, is there any way that it will succeed?

'I am so unprepared.'

Elegance Lady...Be Graceful

Elegance

Gracefulness


'How can I be anything when I do not know what I fight?'

If the cause is just...

Love human kind...


'These people have bombed four places--desecrated the home of two associates and killed hundreds of people...'

Une looked to the board on the white conference room wall.

The number now read 542 confirmed dead. 163 missin. 357 injured.

Damnit--what Tokyo? Why only the earth--nothing beyond the earth. Not one place in the colonies was hit.

"Please Master Treize, give me elegance and grace--and share with me you wisdom."


----------


A pair of crutches extended in front of a small, bandaged figure with a cast shoe covering the bottom of her plaster bound let.

Up and out of bed at last, she hobbled her way to the kitchen to gry herself something to eat--perhaps prepare breakfast for all of her guests.

For she was no longer a guest herself. She was the lady of the house.

Pain throbbed through her injured arm with every step, and her broken leg was no where near ready to walk on. She could feel it selling as she made her trek. The crutches, which Wufei had fetched for her the night before were a couple of inches too long and stretched her out, causing her ribs to ache with every step.

But she was determined.

Wufei followed his wife stealthily so as not to alert her to his presence. He watched not to alert her to his presence. He watched her maneuver, ready to run to her aid if she should somehow falter. A small smile crossed his face, but only lasted a second as he remembered the days purgative.

Meiran was struggling in carrying a bottle of milk from the refrigerator to the counter with the crutches. She got to the table and sat, reluctantly. The crutches were admonished to the floor and she was defeated. Her throat trapped air and she struggled to breathe correctly.

Wufei simply watched as quietly, still unnoticed.

The crash of glass hitting a wall and milk rebounding off the wall and splashing on the floor pulled Wufei out of his trance and he hurried into the room to clean up the mess.

He said nothing as he crossed the room.

Drip
Drip
Drip
Only the sound of milk descending was heard as Wufei swept silently over the kitchen floor.

"Don't."

He stopped.

The coldness in her voice brought him back to a time three years before, when they had been so cruel to each other.

"It will begin to reek," Wufei siad, again going to mop up the mess.

"I said leave it!"

Cautiously, side stepping the cast away crutches, he sat beside her.

Stillness.

They did not look upon each other.

His eyes were down, while hers searched heavenward.

"Look at me.... I'm pitiful. I've gone from a warrior to a blob who can barely cross a room without being out of breath."

"Meiran, you're injured, its alreight to--"

"To be weak? I am weak..."

But she wasn't--not to him--not at all.

"It's only been a couple of weeks, Onna. You'll get better."

"How long did it take you to recover from the wound I gave you?"

His hand automatically traced the place on his stomach where his wife's blade had slashed his flesh.

"Two weeks wasn't it? You were fully recovered after two weeks."

"That's different. Mine was only a flesh wound--on the surface. You have much more serious wounds...I though that I would loose you--again..."

The moon shone in the window and the grim darkness lightened slightly.

It was 3:00 AM.

"I need to leave soon. We are supposed to be in position by 4:30. Dawn is supposed is to take place shortly after 6:00."

"Take me with you," Meiran said.

"The battle field is not place for you right now."

"I can stay at the offices, doing research. Please--Bitte mein Heern...Bitte. If i sit around this house--in bed--studying German--I will through myself against the wall.

I am restless."

"Speak in German more often. It's fun to listen to German with a Mandarin accent," Duo spoke from the doorway.

"Yeah, it's much better than hearing it with an American accent" Hilde added from behind him.

Duo looked offended, but said nothing about the situation.

"Shou could stay in the office with Relena, or even the com room. If my memory serves me correctly, she does have some military experience, right Wu-man?"

"Since when do you speak Mandarin Maxwell?"

"I'm just full of surprises Fei, remember that."

With that, Duo left the room, with Hilde shrugging after him.

The two said nothing. The silence ushered indignance into both prideful youths.

"I don't need your permission. I never have. I'll find a way there no matter what you say."

"I suppose you will. Frankly, I'm surprised that you even asked. you normally just go about your business."

"Will this be a serious battle?"

"No, our only objective is to keep the elves in the mountains."

"Basic peace keeping techniques then?"

He nodded.

"The justice doesn't seem to be there does it?" He pondered aloud. Meiran placed a hand over his.

"I fought a war already. I've fought two. I thought I was finished--by as much as I have come around. I know who the bad guy is now. I know that peace exist for the people and not for the warrior. I know all of that, but I still struggle. Because...."

"Treize'a spirit still haunts you..."

Wufei's head bobbed an affirmative answer.

"I never got a decent battle with Treize."

"I know something about Treize that you don't..."

A pair of black, shapely eyebrows raised above a respective pair of black eyes in question.

"Only one other person knows this, as far as i know--not even Lady Une knows."

"What is it?"

"Treize was not only one person--but two."


----------


Two more steps.

How about two hundred...


Maybe four hundred...


Each step back to my perch seemed longer and hard to take than when I'd first come. Harder to believe.

I am back in a war.

I don't know the reason I'm fighting other than because it is expected of me. The reasoning I suppose could be deduced down to defending peace--though it is difficult to protect something that is not actually in exictance.

Don't get me wrong, peace resides in some places, but Universal peace is only an ideal that can never truly exist.

Quatre Raberba Winner--the Winner heir--deciding that pacifism is naive.

My position I have spotted. Shortly taking my place, my weapons tucked away in their holsters.

It's odd, storing weapons on my person instead of relying on a Gundam.

I do not have the capabilities of Sandrock. I, in m own way, cannot fight. I am not of a fighting spirit. I should be in a control room with Meilun.

No.

There is no To Meilun. Only Chang Meiran--former leader of the ELF--the enemy--an allies wife.

Wife--spouse...a tie thicker than blood.

!BEEP!

KP IZ OPN. CMN.

Keep eyes open. Coming.

I readied my gun for the advance.

Keep them from overtaking.

Purely defensive mission. If they can't leave the mountain, they have nothing but it's snow.