Ghost Knight
Chapter 10
by Anne Khushrenada
Lady Une swiped ash from her brow and eyes, and once
again shook out her long hair. It would do little
good, really- she'd have to shower once she got back
to the house, but it was going to be a while yet, and
she knew it. With a sigh for her more than slightly
grubby appearance- not to mention her aching back -
she returned to her work, which mostly involved
helping Heero, Duo, and the city police sift oh so
carefully through the rubble and ash that remained of
the police file storage room.
"You got anything on your end, boss lady?" Duo asked.
Une shook her head. "No. I'm thinking these burn
patterns look awfully familiar, though- and those
people from Fire Investigation agree with me."
Duo swore under his breath. "Shit. I was afraid of
that."
"Duo," Heero called, and Duo rose to look over the
other man's shoulder. Heero held up, carefully, a
piece of what once might have been an explosive
device- a bomb.
"They did say they'd been fire-bombed," Une said.
"But I suppose we all hoped-"
"Yeah," Duo said. "But this settles it, boss. Our
friends from the council bombing ten years ago are up
to their old tricks again. Damn, damn, damn..." He
kicked at a nearby pile of debris. "Is anyone else
noting a singular lack of crispy files here?"
Une looked at him for a moment, then covered her eyes
with an ash-coated hand. "There must have been
something here our friends didn't want us to see."
She raised her voice and called out the door to the
milling police and fire crews. "Officer O'Brien!"
The police officer who'd made the call for help to
the Preventers stepped into the burned-out room.
"Yes, ma'am?"
"I need to speak to your chief."
"Right, I'll get him on the line for you," O'Brien
said before dashing off to the squadroom to place the
call.
At about that moment, Duo's cell phone rang.
"Maxwell, what d'ya want? I'm in the middle of
somethin' here- Oh. Hell." He placed a hand over the
phone's pickup. "Lady Une." When she didn't answer he
called out again, "Lady Une! It's Trowa."
Une turned to face him, clearly irritated. "Maxwell,
I've got my hands full. It can-"
"I think you'd better take this," Duo said as he
approached her with the phone. "It's about the kids."
* * *
Elena Peacecraft awoke slowly, her vision a haze of
darkness, her only sense that of the pain screaming
through her. Her throat felt scratchy, dry, and she
felt her stomach knot up, nausea gripping her and not
letting go. She forced her blue eyes open, stared
straight ahead until the tall figure before her came
into focus, until she was aware of curly blonde hair,
silver eyes, and a smile that was falsely kind.
"I'm sure you feel terrible," Linnea said. "A side
effect of the drugs, I'm afraid. It will soon pass."
Elena doubled over and dry-heaved for several
moments. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sarah
Catalonia-Bloom, curled up against the wall, still
unconscious.
"Are you going to be sick? I can get you a basin, if
you'd like-"
Unable to take any more of the woman's sugary-
sweetness, Elena rose unsteadily to her feet. She
curved her fingers, nails taloned out, and launched
herself at Linnea, a hoarse cry escaping her parched
lips.
Linnea threw back her head and laughed, raising her
arm and shoving forward, deflecting Elena so that the
girl fell in a heap of aching arms and legs, and was
unable to move again.
"Bitch," Elena snarled in a voice that her mother
might not have recognized, but which would have
reminded her father that the blood of the Lightning
Count flowed through her veins.
"Now, now, such language-"
"Can't you stop?" Elena snapped. "You're not fooling
anybody. I know what you are, lady."
"Really," said Linnea, looking quite amused. "And
just what am I, pray tell, dear Princess?"
"You're a horrible person," Elena told her matter-of-
factly. "You keep trying to get custody of my
cousins- God knows why, you can't seem to stand a one
of them. Now you've sent someone who hurt us all, and
you've taken me and Sarah-"
"That'll be enough," Linnea cut her off.
Elena raised herself on her elbows and glared up from
the floor. "Great," she said, "'Cause I've had just
about enough of you, too." Ignoring Linnea now, she
crawled her way slowly across to Sarah, and gently
shook the other girl until she awoke. "Sare... Sare,
it's Elena. Come on, wake up, kiddo..."
Sarah groaned, and her eyes blinked open. "E- Elena?
Don't... feel so good." Elena helped her to sit up,
slowly, and watched Linnea dash forward as if to
comfort Sarah. The young girl cringed back, but the
sudden movement proved to be too much for her- she
threw up upon the hem of Linnea's white formal skirt,
upon her shoes and the section of floor around them.
Elena smiled to herself, and kept the smile on her
face as she looked up at Linnea. "Sorry about that.
Since I don't think you're going to go anywhere
wearing that, can I borrow it? I'd like to clean up
Sarah."
"You-" Linnea sputtered, before turning on her heel
and leaving them alone in the room.
It was, Elena saw now that she had a chance to get a
better look around, a well-appointed, if sparse,
room. The carpet was lush and thick- it'd require
quite a cleaning to look good as new, now -and there
were two cots with sleeping bags over them shoved
into a far corner. A bookcase stood opposite the
window, mostly empty but containing a few odds and
ends, and several books. At a glance, Elena decided
that the room had probably been rather quickly
converted to hold them, and thus something might have
been overlooked that could be used either as a weapon
or as a means to their escape. She would have to look
later- but not until she knew what the situation was.
Trying to get out now might mean simply going from
the frying pan to the fire.
Linnea returned several moments later with a bowl of
water, and a washcloth. She set them on the low table
near the corner where the girls had been dumped upon
their arrival- or at least, where Elena had come to -
and gestured Elena forward.
"Take care of the other one," Linnea said.
"Her name is Sarah," Elena replied as she dipped the
cloth into the water, which was warm, and wiped
around Sarah's mouth. "Can we-" She coughed,
realizing she'd been speaking too much, and that her
throat hurt far worse now. "Can we have some water,
to drink, please?"
"Of course," said Linnea. "I wouldn't advise eating
for a few hours yet, but I'll bring you something
then, and in the meantime I'll get the water."
She started to turn away, but Sarah begun to wail
softly. The girl looked up at Elena in fear and
recognition, as if she understood that the older girl
was her only ally here. "Where's Caro?" Sarah managed
to gasp out through her tears, and Elena wrapped her
arms around Sarah, drawing her close.
"I don't know, honey," she said quietly. "Shh, shh,
it's okay- I'll take care of you... I won't let
anything happen to you..."
Sarah dried her eyes on the edge of her shirt and
looked to Linnea. "When my big sister finds out you
took us, she's gonna /get/ you, lady."
* * *
Linnea stepped out into the hall and waved a hand to
summon Nichol. "Get two glasses of water from the
kitchen."
Nichol, though, was far too busy staring at her
stained skirt and shoes to pay any attention to what
she was saying. "What-?" he started to ask.
Linnea sighed. "The younger girl, Sarah. The gas
dosage was too high for the younger ones, I think."
"It was the smallest dosage I could get," Nichol
protested, "and I'm not about to mess with something
that explodes."
"Of course not," Linnea replied. "It might bite you.
Now- the water?"
"I'll get it," Nichol told her. "By the way, David's
here." His tone of voice clearly showed his distaste
for using the police chief's son in this manner, but
Linnea ignored his obvious complaints; it was /his/
fault Carolyn wasn't available to look after her
younger sister and the Peacecraft brat.
"You want to see him?" Nichol asked after a moment.
"David, that is?"
"Yes, send him up. We'll give him the water- better
if they don't see you."
"Right," said Nichol, thinking it'd do far more
damage to Linnea's plans if the girls knew David was
involved, but not about to say so; let it be on her
head if she was wrong.
Nichol found David lurking in the kitchen, slouched
over the table, and smacked him in the back of the
neck as he passed. "You. Fill two glasses with water
and come with me."
David replied with a suggestion as physically
impossible as it was crude. But he rose from his
chair without further prodding from Nichol, and
fetched the water as he'd been instructed.
The police chief's son and the Preventer headed up
the stairs, where they met Linnea outside the room in
which the girls had been placed.
"I think he's having second thoughts," Nichol said.
David spoke up quickly, as Linnea's silver eyes
turned on him, her gaze cold. "Not second thoughts,
no. I'm just not sure this is a good idea. If the
girls recognize me-"
"Of /course/ they'll recognize you," said Linnea.
"You are a part of this now, David, and that means
you're in all the way."
"We never agreed to that."
"We agreed you would do what I tell you- and you
/will/ do that, boy, or the wrath of Mariemaia
Khushrenada will be the least of your worries."
"You don't know Mariemaia, lady," David replied. "All
this and you still don't understand her..."
"Neither do you, obviously," Nichol said. "If you
did, you wouldn't have come to Miss Linnea here. You
made a deal, now you're going to honor it."
"Or what?" asked David, with more defiance in his
tone than was really in his heart.
"Careful, boy," Linnea said, taking a step towards
him, her gaze still distant. "Your powerful friends
will not stand beside you once they learn what you've
done for me..."
"Getting hurt myself was never part of the plan!"
David snapped. "You owe me something for that."
"Yes, and you got it- I have friends who helped Iria
Winner develop the technology that regenerated your
legs; it would never have happened without their
help. So on that score, boy, we're more than even."
Linnea shoved the door open. "Now, get going..."
David tossed a look at her over his shoulder as he
stepped over the room's threshold. "You got a little
close to the action yourself, didn't you?"
"Closer than I'd have preferred, yes," Linnea said.
Then, "My men didn't find what they were searching
for in the police file room."
"I know." David smirked at her. "That's because my
father is a step ahead of you."
"Oh?" Linnea was interested, now, and David wished he
could take his words back.
"Mariemaia has the file," David told her before
closing the door in her face.
"Damn. Nichol!" was the last thing he heard from
Linnea before David turned his attention to the
girls.
Elena Peacecraft accepted one of the glasses from him
and sniffed at it. "You first," she said, her voice
hoarse.
"Don't trust them, do you, little sister?" David
asked.
"Don't call me that," Elena snapped.
Sarah looked up at him, her eyes a bit glazed.
"David? Did they grab you, too?"
Elena shot a look at him that could have cracked
Gundanum. She understood his role here, even if Sarah
did not.
"No, Sare, they didn't," David replied. He sipped
from the water glass before handing it back to Elena
with a smile. She just glared at him.
"The other one, too," Elena said, passing the first
glass to Sarah. "Here, Sare, drink this. It'll help."
David took a drink from the second glass as well, and
Elena accepted it from him without a word. She drank
half of it and then set it aside on the table. "Why'd
you do it?" she asked, and her voice was back to the
way David remembered it; the mixture of her parents'
softer and sharper edges. One moment that voice could
be like velvet, the next, steel slicing through it.
"I don't expect you to understand-" David began.
"Oh, please! I may not be as brilliant as the twins,
but not everything they can do is beyond me. I
/understand/, David, I really do."
"What do you understand?" David asked.
"That you've betrayed us. That you sold out the
Khushrenadas, sold out Mariemaia, the twins, Aunt
Une... You coward! Why are you doing this? Why?"
"You know my mother's dead," David said.
"Big deal," was Elena's reply. "So's Mariemaia's
father."
"My mother /died/ in the war she caused! In the Eve
Wars. I was a few years younger than her, so I didn't
really understand then. But I do now! It's all her
fault, all of it. I've hated what's left of her
family ever since, and when I met Linnea, she- She
wanted me to help her destroy them. How could I
refuse?"
"I thought you /liked/ Mariemaia," Sarah said
quietly.
"Liked her? Hell no, Sarah, I don't-"
"Then why," Elena cut him off, "did you help her
investigate Linnea?"
"How do you know about that?"
Elena rolled her eyes. "No one notices the kids when
they're really busy. Lucian told me that once, and I
remembered it. It's true. I watched Mari and Aunt
Dorothy working on some stuff a couple days ago, and
heard them saying you were working with Mari on it."
"Huh," said David. "I've always thought they were
stupid with security where you kids were concerned.
Fact is, Elena, I didn't know much more about my
employer than Mariemaia does, and that bugged me. So
I thought I'd take what she could help me find out
about her- maybe it'd come in handy, who knows? But
if Linnea finds out I'm playing both sides against
the middle-"
"You're not even!" Sarah cried out. "You're working
for Linnea, and using Mari and her family- after all
they've done for you!"
David's expression hardly changed, not even when he
had slapped her and she lay back in Elena's arms,
sobbing and clutching at her cheek.
"Get out," Elena said, and though she was technically
/his/ prisoner, or at least that of his employer,
David found himself retreating before the steel edge
of the older girl.
Linnea was waiting outside, and she looked little
more pleased by what she'd heard than Elena was by
what she'd seen. "What the hell happened in there?"
she asked.
"You don't have cameras going? I'm surprised," David
said.
"Perhaps I do, perhaps I don't. Answer the question."
"Younger girl was giving me too much attitude, so I
decided to knock some sense into her."
"It seems to have worked wonders," Linnea said dryly.
"David."
"Yeah?"
"Look at me." Miserably, he did so. "If you /ever/
strike at one of my guests again, I will see you
returned to the waiting arms of Lady Une's family,
and I will personally tell that wretched woman what
you've done for me. Do you understand?"
"Y- yes, but-"
"I mean what I say, David. Your father's men worked
that case last summer, didn't they? The man they
found floating in the river?"
"Yeah," David said, then, with a moment's thought,
"They never did find the head, but DNA tests
confirmed he was a janitor at the council building
when-" /When somebody screwed up and placed the bomb
before she could get out of the building,/ he
thought.
"I see we understand each other," Linnea said.
"Yeah," David said just before running off to be sick
somewhere. "Perfectly."
* * *
Alice tugged at the aggravating Preventers' uniform
tie as she stepped out into the parking lot. "Damned
things," she muttered. Alice raised her voice. "Lady
Une, whose brilliant idea /were/ these things?"
"Why do you ask, Alice?" Une sounded more than a bit
distracted as she spoke.
"So I know who to kill," Alice replied. She took
another, longer look at her employer, and swore under
her breath. "Lady? What's wrong?"
"The children," Une said quietly, and outlined what
Trowa had told her over the phone.
Alice sighed. /Damnit!/ "At least one of us needs to
stay here- do you want me to go, or-?"
"Please, Alice," Une said. "There's not much I could
do there, and-"
"I'll take care of them," Alice promised her friend
as she shook ash from her braid before heading for
the car.
/Shit, where's Caro?/ Alice asked herself as she slid
behind the wheel. /I thought she was watching the
kids.../ She dialed Trowa before pulling out of the
lot, and slipped on her hands-free headset.
"Barton. Can it wait?"
"Probably not," Alice told him. "I'm on my way over."
"Good," said Trowa. "I've got my people searching the
hospital now, but there's no sign of the three
missing. Lewis tells me he saw Caro arguing with
Nichol just before they were all knocked out by the
gas."
"I don't suppose anybody's seen him lately," Alice
said. It wasn't a question, really.
"Alice, have I ever told you how much I like your
sense of humor?" Trowa asked.
"Not lately," was Alice's reply. "Does your sister
know yet?"
"Dorothy said she'd call her."
"Better she hears it from Dorothy than-"
"Yeah."
* * *
The Place Between Worlds
Walker moved through the crowds milling about the
snow-covered ground, doing his best to blend in. He
attached himself to a group of OZ soldiers- ex-OZ
soldiers now, he supposed -and listened to their
conversations. They didn't seem to know much of what
was going on, but their voices spoke words he knew,
ones that took him back to his days amongst the
living.
"-telling you, the Aires is the best of the mobile
suits-"
"Did you kick the bucket before the advent of the
Taurus?"
"Now, now- it's not nice to remind a man he's dead.
Takes all the fun out of arguing with you fools."
"-And you thought you were stuck in a rut before!
/Man/, I'm tellin' ya, we're /never/ gonna see
another promotion now, that's for damned sure!"
Walker smiled at that last as he drifted on, going
nowhere. The ghost of the OZ soldier sighed. He
didn't so much close his eyes, as make the sights
before him go away.
/Do you forgive me yet, Alice? I'd bet you do. You
always understood what I thought I had to do. But
about this- I'm sorry again, Alice. And this stuff
that's happening- I don't know if I can stop it, but
I'm sure as hell going to try./
With his eyes closed he could almost see her, the way
she'd appeared when last he looked into the Well of
Souls with Treize and the specter of Death; blonde
hair done up in the simple braid she favored, dressed
now not in the familiar OZ uniform he himself still
wore, but in the garb of Lady Une's Preventers. He'd
seen her tugging at the necktie more than once- and
what /was/ the point of such a hideously ugly
accessory, anyway?
He sighed again and faded out, repapering beside the
River of Forgetfulness, which he and Treize had
chosen as a meeting place for the same reason
everyone else seemed to avoid it- knowing it made the
others uneasy gave them some degree of security.
Walker kicked back against the tree stump from which
Treize had made his short speech to the 'troops' and
waited for the man himself to arrive.
It didn't take long; Treize was becoming adept at
knowing this realm, at knowing it as well as Death.
He sensed where he was needed now, and he went.
"Walker," Treize said with a nod. He was clearly
about to inquire as to the other man's progress, but
Walker shook his head, and held out his hands, palms
up and empty as if to say 'nothing'.
"No joy here, I'm afraid," Walker said. "There are so
many damned /people/ here, though, I hardly know
where to start looking."
"Souls, Walker. Ghosts, if you'd rather be less
poetic. Not people."
Walker shrugged. "Semantics, man. Anyway- I take it
you're not fairing much better?"
Treize shook his head. "I've seen a lot today, but
not much that makes sense."
"Ditto," said Walker. "You heard anything from our
scythe-wielding friend?"
"No," Treize replied. "He said only that he'd summon
us if we were needed, not that he'd be giving hourly
reports."
"Right," said Walker. "Well, Ghost Knight, I guess
I'm off to merge with the masses again in hopes of
picking up something useful this time around. Check
in with you later?"
"Alright," said Treize.
He sat beside the River after Walker had gone,
staring out at its frozen waters. He half-expected
Death to arrive and startle him out of his reverie,
as the specter had a habit of doing, but knew that
Death would keep his word, and not leave his post.
Treize had the eerie sense that he was being watched,
an itch between his shoulder blades made all the more
annoying by the fact he couldn't scratch what wasn't
really there. He did his best to ignore it, though;
more souls flooded into the Place Between Worlds
every day, and there were always some lurking about
where they should not have been. He did not consider
these his problem unless they got in his way, or in
such a case as Death asked him- politely -for his aid
in dispersing them. A thing which, frankly, he saw
the point of less and less- they would only regroup,
given time.
Treize sighed. No, there /had/ to be a permanent
solution to this puzzle. There had to be. And if
Death's chosen avatar couldn't find it- he shuddered
at the thought, and cast it aside.
* * *
Shadows pooled around the Dark Knight, thick and
textured, dark like seawater nearest the depths of
the ocean's floor. The Knight herself stood cloaked
in her shadows, garbed in the ebony armor of her
office, staring out with violet eyes that pierced the
darkness. Her fingers twitched at her side, near the
hilt of the rapier she wore, as she gazed out upon
her eternal and ever-present enemy, the Ghost Knight,
the man who once had called himself Treize
Khushrenada.
In life she had not known him, having died several
hundred years before his time. But it was the Dark
Knight's purpose in existence to oppose the force of
the Ghost Knight; theirs was a balance that must be
maintained. While the Ghost Knight served Death, the
Dark Knight answered to no one save herself. She had
been given, in a manner of speaking, the same choices
as Treize, and was only somewhat guided by the
aspects of Fate.
The Place Between Worlds was not her home as it was
Treize's; in reality she had no place. She existed in
the space between places, in the time that never was.
These things made as much sense to her as they were
ever going to. It was enough, to know what she was,
and the forces she must oppose.
She did what she had to, not so much because she
wanted to, but because it was what was required of
her. She had made the choices long ago, and these
things must be lived with, even in death. She could
not touch the world as directly as the Ghost Knight,
not yet, which was why she had made the ill-advised
alliance with the mortal woman, Linnea.
That wasn't her real name, a thing which the Dark
Knight knew and chose to disregard. It didn't matter
what the woman called herself, so long as she did
what she was told. Which she sometimes did not; that
foolish business of destroying the council building a
decade ago had been Linnea's idea. The Dark Knight
scoffed. Pity the woman hadn't managed to get herself
or that fool boy, David, killed back then.
She drew the shadows about herself and was gone, and
in the instant she vanished, the itch between
Treize's shoulder blades eased. She felt his relief,
and clearly sensed the thought: /Yes, leave me in
peace, you fools. You know nothing, and I would much
rather it stay that way./
She smiled as she returned to the place that wasn't,
the place that was hers. She agreed with her ages-old
enemy, really; better for all concerned if this
stayed between them. Of course, it wouldn't, Linnea's
actions had seen to that.
With that thought, the Dark Knight's smile faded as
if it had never been, and she went to one knee before
the pool of seeing that served her in a way similar
to the way the Well of Souls served the Ghost Knight;
as a window into the world she could never again
reach.
* * *
It was Mariemaia who found Carolyn, coming around the
back of the hospital to avoid the knot of reporters
who had staked out the front entrance. Somehow having
learned of the three girls' disappearance, they were
bound and determined to get the full story out of
somebody. Mariemaia, for her part, wasn't in the mood
to deal with them- her comments to reporters were
usually crude and unkind, and Lady Une and the others
had all but given up on advising her not to speak to
them at all. With the newsies, Mariemaia lost her
temper, and few of them could blame her for it.
She spotted the denim jacket against the concrete
slab, the hair tossed forward, covering the other
girl's face. Mariemaia's foot slammed on the break,
and she leapt from the car. She was running almost
before she knew it, running towards her friend.
"Caro!" Mariemaia exclaimed. "Carolyn!"
Dropping to her knees beside Carolyn, she brushed
back the auburn hair, one hand feeling for a pulse at
Caro's neck while the other pried open an eyelid. She
saw the pupil react, if sluggishly.
Carolyn moaned softly, and Mariemaia heaved a sigh of
relief. Caro came slowly back to wakefulness, her
eyes blinking rapidly. "Mari?" she asked at last.
"Yeah. Hi, Caro."
Caro started to smile, then her face crumpled.
"Sarah!" she cried. "Oh, God, /Sarah./ And Elena.
That bastard Nichol-" She pushed awkwardly at her
jacket sleeve, and the shirt sleeve beneath it. "I
knew it. He shot me up with something."
"Drugs," said Mariemaia. "But why-?"
"Some kind of hypnotic, I think. It kept me from
totally passing out when he tossed the gas grenade.
He told me to get Sarah, and I didn't have any
/choice/, I couldn't move except to do what he said.
He put Elena in the back of his car, and I put Sarah
in. I started to get in, too, and he pushed me away-
that's the last thing I remember. I guess I hit my
head."
"Your neck doesn't hurt or anything?" Mariemaia
asked, recalling what Sally had once told her about
not moving anyone if she suspected they had a back or
neck injury- a spinal injury such as a break could
lead to paralysis at best, death at worst.
"Nope," Caro said with a lopsided grin. "My /head/
hurts like hell, though."
"I'll bet," said Mariemaia. "Aunt Sally will kick my
ass if I move you and you've broken your back..."
"My back is fine," Caro replied. "What I'm worried
about isn't me- it's Sare and Elena. Where the hell
did Nichol-?"
"Trowa's got people on it," Mariemaia said. She
helped Carolyn to stand, carefully, and the two
inched their way along to the back entrance. Caro
swayed in her arms and lost consciousness again, and
Mariemaia raised her voice to shout for a doctor.
Sally was standing over her by the time Carolyn
regained consciousness. She'd been moved to a bed in
the emergency department, and Sally was speaking
quickly to an ER nurse.
"I don't like the way she keeps going in and out like
this- she's probably got a concussion, and things are
crazy enough that even if she's got somebody who can
keep her awake, I don't want to send her home..."
"Please, Aunt Sally," Caro cut in, "I've got to see
my parents..."
"They'll be by later," Mariemaia said. "I just got
off the phone with Aunt Catherine- who is seriously
pissed, by the way. When we catch up with Nichol,
Uncle Milliardo may have to stand in line."
"Did you tell her-?"
"She knows we found you, and that Sally's holding you
hostage till morning, yes," Mariemaia said. "You can
go visit my little brother later on- commensurate
together on Aunt Sally's sadistic tendencies to
confine people here."
Caro couldn't help laughing at that. "Alright,
alright. But-"
"Enough," Sally interrupted. "Carolyn, I'd like to
run some tests, to find out just what Nichol gave
you. We've had the gas from the grenade analyzed, but
I'm worried about the hypnotic and the damage it may
be doing your system. And before we can counter it-"
A lab technician stepped forward, holding a tray of
needles and tubes.
"You've got to know what it is," Caro said. "Sure, no
problem." She looked at her arms, then at the tech.
"You want the one Nichol stabbed, or the other?"
"Let's try the other," he said. "Give you a matched
set, huh?"
"Lovely," said Caro. "Aunt Sally, Mari-"
"As soon as we know anything, you'll know," Sally
promised, as she herded the others from the room, and
left with them.
The lab tech smiled at Caro as he prepped her arm for
the first blood test. "Family?" he asked.
"Sort of," Caro replied. "Our parents were close
during the war- mine, Mari's adoptive mother, the
parents of the other kids- You seen them today? Bunch
of them up on Three?"
"Oh yeah," said the tech. "Just a pinch now..."
"I don't know why you always give us that bullshit-
Ow." Caro grimaced. "Yeah, well... My kid sister's
sick, so when they needed somebody to watch the other
ones, Mom sent me."
"They're Preventers, right?" he asked. "Your
parents?"
"Most of them. One of my mothers works for them full-
time, the other is a consultant. She taught me how to
throw knives- but it still wasn't enough to stop
Elena and my own little sister from being taken."
"Not your fault," the tech said as the results of his
test came back. "Take a look at this." He showed her
the readout screen. "You were given a very high dose
of a hypnotic so unstable even the military stopped
using it- around AC 195 or so, if I remember right."
Caro swore under her breath. "The guy who took Sare
and Elena, was with OZ back then. Specials."
"Probably where he learned about this stuff, if not
where he grabbed it from," the tech said. "I've got
to get this report to Dr. Chang. You okay for a few?"
"Yeah," Carolyn said, though the last thing she felt
was okay. Her sister and Elena were missing, taken by
the one Preventer none of them trusted, who Caro
suspected, but thus far couldn't prove, was working
at some level with Linnea Khushrenada, who had been
the bane of their existence with a renewed vengeance
since the start of the summer.
Often praised by her teachers for her quick mind and
analytical skills, Caro turned her thoughts to a
small portion of the problem at hand- the hypnotic
she'd been injected with, and where and how Nichol
might have gotten hold of it.
Many things had been 'misplaced' during the war; some
stolen or destroyed by Gundam pilots or other rebel
factions like the one Sally and Wufei had worked with
in China, other things reported stolen by corrupt
officers and resold on the black market. When OZ
decided to put an end to their use of drugs such as
the hypnotic, less careful track was kept of all the
samples. People were supposed to /know/ it was
dangerously unstable by then, and any reasonable
person would have kept well away from it.
Which was, Caro thought wryly, perhaps one
explanation for how Nichol had ended up with a
syringe full to stick in her arm this afternoon, if
not exactly what she'd been looking for. She sighed.
She would have to give this more thought, perhaps
when her head was clearer.
* * *
Realm of the Dark Knight
Pool of Seeing
The Dark Knight fell to one armor-clad knee, and
teased at the waters before her with the shadows
under her command. "Linnea," she said in a voice that
was cold and ageless.
The silver-eyed woman appeared in her view, her image
fading out at the edges. She brushed at the wisps of
her curly hair, as if meaning to look her best, and
the Dark Knight stifled a laugh.
"L-lady," Linnea spoke up at last.
The Knight shook her head, dark brown hair dancing
over her shoulders though Linnea could not see it.
She had not removed her helm in centuries; no one
needed to see her face, and she could not herself
stand to look upon it. "You have done what I asked,
Linnea, but only just."
"Mistress, I thought-"
"/You/ wanted this alliance, Linnea- wanted it rather
badly as I recall. And the conditions of it were
simple. You were to do /exactly/ as I asked of you-
and that is very important to me, my dear. /Very/
important." The Dark Knight glared down upon her
misguided mortal agent. "No protests of your
innocence? Good girl. Now, answer me this: Elena,
Sarah, Carolyn. What were you /thinking/?"
"Perhaps- leverage, over the others, Mistress?"
Again the Knight shook her head. "No. You would turn
them first, wouldn't you? So your would-be Empress
has ready allies?"
"Queen," Linnea corrected softly.
"Don't," the Knight said. "Linnea, Linnea, Linnea...
you're not /thinking/! If what you want is something
of the familiar for your would-be Queen, something
you can trust, you need the twin. Not the others."
Linnea shook her head. "I've told you- The twin is
not amiable. It's the reason I chose Terra in the
first place. Her brother is too much his father's
son."
For the first time the Dark Knight lost control of
her tightly-reined emotions. "You are a monster. You
would use children for your own ends-"
"And you're hardly a saint, lady, so don't you start
throwing stones-"
Violet eyes flared at her through the eye slits of
the helm, and Linnea shrank back. "I am not one of
your mortal pawns, /Leia/. You may have cheated
Death, but I know how much it has troubled him. If
you would see this through to its end, you will see
him again, and sooner than you'd like. I can make
sure of it."
"Bitch!" cried Linnea.
The Dark Knight laughed. "Yes, my dear. Yes, I am
that, and many other things besides. Now. You will do
as I say, or I shall withdraw my support from you.
With no avatar to support you, you will revert to
what you are- a dead woman who has lived too long.
Think on that."
The pool turned opaque again; she had said what she
wished to, and any rebuttal Linnea might form was not
important. It was only when she saw his reflection in
the waters that she knew she was not alone.
"This is /my/ place!" she snarled at the specter at
her back. "It may not truly exist, but it is /mine/,
and you cannot-"
"Peace, my dear." Death tossed back the hood of his
cloak, and for just a moment she saw not the skeletal
features of the specter, but the face of a man,
remarkably ordinary- hazel-green eyes, dark hair, a
small beard- and then it was gone.
"Don't!" she cried. The Knight regained control of
herself with an effort, and heaved a sigh. "What do
you want? You should be back in your own realm."
"And I will go soon, but first-" Death paused as he
drew back up his hood. "I was wrong, wasn't I? You
are not my Ghost Knight's enemy, not here. Not
intentionally. Linnea-"
The Knight shook her head. "Perhaps. But who is to
say that mine is the only patronage she enjoys?"
Death sighed. "You are right, and I was a fool not to
see it."
"You are busy, old friend," she said quietly. "And
she is but one soul-"
He laughed shortly. "So I once thought of Treize
Khushrenada. Careful how you choose your avatars,
lady- or how they choose you."
She bowed slowly. "If it is your wish, I will speak
to the Fates."
"I doubt they will intervene yet."
"No, of course not," she replied. "But it may be that
I can learn something of use from them."
Death nodded, and returned to his own realm by
stepping backward and fading from her sight.
Chapter 10
by Anne Khushrenada
Lady Une swiped ash from her brow and eyes, and once
again shook out her long hair. It would do little
good, really- she'd have to shower once she got back
to the house, but it was going to be a while yet, and
she knew it. With a sigh for her more than slightly
grubby appearance- not to mention her aching back -
she returned to her work, which mostly involved
helping Heero, Duo, and the city police sift oh so
carefully through the rubble and ash that remained of
the police file storage room.
"You got anything on your end, boss lady?" Duo asked.
Une shook her head. "No. I'm thinking these burn
patterns look awfully familiar, though- and those
people from Fire Investigation agree with me."
Duo swore under his breath. "Shit. I was afraid of
that."
"Duo," Heero called, and Duo rose to look over the
other man's shoulder. Heero held up, carefully, a
piece of what once might have been an explosive
device- a bomb.
"They did say they'd been fire-bombed," Une said.
"But I suppose we all hoped-"
"Yeah," Duo said. "But this settles it, boss. Our
friends from the council bombing ten years ago are up
to their old tricks again. Damn, damn, damn..." He
kicked at a nearby pile of debris. "Is anyone else
noting a singular lack of crispy files here?"
Une looked at him for a moment, then covered her eyes
with an ash-coated hand. "There must have been
something here our friends didn't want us to see."
She raised her voice and called out the door to the
milling police and fire crews. "Officer O'Brien!"
The police officer who'd made the call for help to
the Preventers stepped into the burned-out room.
"Yes, ma'am?"
"I need to speak to your chief."
"Right, I'll get him on the line for you," O'Brien
said before dashing off to the squadroom to place the
call.
At about that moment, Duo's cell phone rang.
"Maxwell, what d'ya want? I'm in the middle of
somethin' here- Oh. Hell." He placed a hand over the
phone's pickup. "Lady Une." When she didn't answer he
called out again, "Lady Une! It's Trowa."
Une turned to face him, clearly irritated. "Maxwell,
I've got my hands full. It can-"
"I think you'd better take this," Duo said as he
approached her with the phone. "It's about the kids."
* * *
Elena Peacecraft awoke slowly, her vision a haze of
darkness, her only sense that of the pain screaming
through her. Her throat felt scratchy, dry, and she
felt her stomach knot up, nausea gripping her and not
letting go. She forced her blue eyes open, stared
straight ahead until the tall figure before her came
into focus, until she was aware of curly blonde hair,
silver eyes, and a smile that was falsely kind.
"I'm sure you feel terrible," Linnea said. "A side
effect of the drugs, I'm afraid. It will soon pass."
Elena doubled over and dry-heaved for several
moments. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sarah
Catalonia-Bloom, curled up against the wall, still
unconscious.
"Are you going to be sick? I can get you a basin, if
you'd like-"
Unable to take any more of the woman's sugary-
sweetness, Elena rose unsteadily to her feet. She
curved her fingers, nails taloned out, and launched
herself at Linnea, a hoarse cry escaping her parched
lips.
Linnea threw back her head and laughed, raising her
arm and shoving forward, deflecting Elena so that the
girl fell in a heap of aching arms and legs, and was
unable to move again.
"Bitch," Elena snarled in a voice that her mother
might not have recognized, but which would have
reminded her father that the blood of the Lightning
Count flowed through her veins.
"Now, now, such language-"
"Can't you stop?" Elena snapped. "You're not fooling
anybody. I know what you are, lady."
"Really," said Linnea, looking quite amused. "And
just what am I, pray tell, dear Princess?"
"You're a horrible person," Elena told her matter-of-
factly. "You keep trying to get custody of my
cousins- God knows why, you can't seem to stand a one
of them. Now you've sent someone who hurt us all, and
you've taken me and Sarah-"
"That'll be enough," Linnea cut her off.
Elena raised herself on her elbows and glared up from
the floor. "Great," she said, "'Cause I've had just
about enough of you, too." Ignoring Linnea now, she
crawled her way slowly across to Sarah, and gently
shook the other girl until she awoke. "Sare... Sare,
it's Elena. Come on, wake up, kiddo..."
Sarah groaned, and her eyes blinked open. "E- Elena?
Don't... feel so good." Elena helped her to sit up,
slowly, and watched Linnea dash forward as if to
comfort Sarah. The young girl cringed back, but the
sudden movement proved to be too much for her- she
threw up upon the hem of Linnea's white formal skirt,
upon her shoes and the section of floor around them.
Elena smiled to herself, and kept the smile on her
face as she looked up at Linnea. "Sorry about that.
Since I don't think you're going to go anywhere
wearing that, can I borrow it? I'd like to clean up
Sarah."
"You-" Linnea sputtered, before turning on her heel
and leaving them alone in the room.
It was, Elena saw now that she had a chance to get a
better look around, a well-appointed, if sparse,
room. The carpet was lush and thick- it'd require
quite a cleaning to look good as new, now -and there
were two cots with sleeping bags over them shoved
into a far corner. A bookcase stood opposite the
window, mostly empty but containing a few odds and
ends, and several books. At a glance, Elena decided
that the room had probably been rather quickly
converted to hold them, and thus something might have
been overlooked that could be used either as a weapon
or as a means to their escape. She would have to look
later- but not until she knew what the situation was.
Trying to get out now might mean simply going from
the frying pan to the fire.
Linnea returned several moments later with a bowl of
water, and a washcloth. She set them on the low table
near the corner where the girls had been dumped upon
their arrival- or at least, where Elena had come to -
and gestured Elena forward.
"Take care of the other one," Linnea said.
"Her name is Sarah," Elena replied as she dipped the
cloth into the water, which was warm, and wiped
around Sarah's mouth. "Can we-" She coughed,
realizing she'd been speaking too much, and that her
throat hurt far worse now. "Can we have some water,
to drink, please?"
"Of course," said Linnea. "I wouldn't advise eating
for a few hours yet, but I'll bring you something
then, and in the meantime I'll get the water."
She started to turn away, but Sarah begun to wail
softly. The girl looked up at Elena in fear and
recognition, as if she understood that the older girl
was her only ally here. "Where's Caro?" Sarah managed
to gasp out through her tears, and Elena wrapped her
arms around Sarah, drawing her close.
"I don't know, honey," she said quietly. "Shh, shh,
it's okay- I'll take care of you... I won't let
anything happen to you..."
Sarah dried her eyes on the edge of her shirt and
looked to Linnea. "When my big sister finds out you
took us, she's gonna /get/ you, lady."
* * *
Linnea stepped out into the hall and waved a hand to
summon Nichol. "Get two glasses of water from the
kitchen."
Nichol, though, was far too busy staring at her
stained skirt and shoes to pay any attention to what
she was saying. "What-?" he started to ask.
Linnea sighed. "The younger girl, Sarah. The gas
dosage was too high for the younger ones, I think."
"It was the smallest dosage I could get," Nichol
protested, "and I'm not about to mess with something
that explodes."
"Of course not," Linnea replied. "It might bite you.
Now- the water?"
"I'll get it," Nichol told her. "By the way, David's
here." His tone of voice clearly showed his distaste
for using the police chief's son in this manner, but
Linnea ignored his obvious complaints; it was /his/
fault Carolyn wasn't available to look after her
younger sister and the Peacecraft brat.
"You want to see him?" Nichol asked after a moment.
"David, that is?"
"Yes, send him up. We'll give him the water- better
if they don't see you."
"Right," said Nichol, thinking it'd do far more
damage to Linnea's plans if the girls knew David was
involved, but not about to say so; let it be on her
head if she was wrong.
Nichol found David lurking in the kitchen, slouched
over the table, and smacked him in the back of the
neck as he passed. "You. Fill two glasses with water
and come with me."
David replied with a suggestion as physically
impossible as it was crude. But he rose from his
chair without further prodding from Nichol, and
fetched the water as he'd been instructed.
The police chief's son and the Preventer headed up
the stairs, where they met Linnea outside the room in
which the girls had been placed.
"I think he's having second thoughts," Nichol said.
David spoke up quickly, as Linnea's silver eyes
turned on him, her gaze cold. "Not second thoughts,
no. I'm just not sure this is a good idea. If the
girls recognize me-"
"Of /course/ they'll recognize you," said Linnea.
"You are a part of this now, David, and that means
you're in all the way."
"We never agreed to that."
"We agreed you would do what I tell you- and you
/will/ do that, boy, or the wrath of Mariemaia
Khushrenada will be the least of your worries."
"You don't know Mariemaia, lady," David replied. "All
this and you still don't understand her..."
"Neither do you, obviously," Nichol said. "If you
did, you wouldn't have come to Miss Linnea here. You
made a deal, now you're going to honor it."
"Or what?" asked David, with more defiance in his
tone than was really in his heart.
"Careful, boy," Linnea said, taking a step towards
him, her gaze still distant. "Your powerful friends
will not stand beside you once they learn what you've
done for me..."
"Getting hurt myself was never part of the plan!"
David snapped. "You owe me something for that."
"Yes, and you got it- I have friends who helped Iria
Winner develop the technology that regenerated your
legs; it would never have happened without their
help. So on that score, boy, we're more than even."
Linnea shoved the door open. "Now, get going..."
David tossed a look at her over his shoulder as he
stepped over the room's threshold. "You got a little
close to the action yourself, didn't you?"
"Closer than I'd have preferred, yes," Linnea said.
Then, "My men didn't find what they were searching
for in the police file room."
"I know." David smirked at her. "That's because my
father is a step ahead of you."
"Oh?" Linnea was interested, now, and David wished he
could take his words back.
"Mariemaia has the file," David told her before
closing the door in her face.
"Damn. Nichol!" was the last thing he heard from
Linnea before David turned his attention to the
girls.
Elena Peacecraft accepted one of the glasses from him
and sniffed at it. "You first," she said, her voice
hoarse.
"Don't trust them, do you, little sister?" David
asked.
"Don't call me that," Elena snapped.
Sarah looked up at him, her eyes a bit glazed.
"David? Did they grab you, too?"
Elena shot a look at him that could have cracked
Gundanum. She understood his role here, even if Sarah
did not.
"No, Sare, they didn't," David replied. He sipped
from the water glass before handing it back to Elena
with a smile. She just glared at him.
"The other one, too," Elena said, passing the first
glass to Sarah. "Here, Sare, drink this. It'll help."
David took a drink from the second glass as well, and
Elena accepted it from him without a word. She drank
half of it and then set it aside on the table. "Why'd
you do it?" she asked, and her voice was back to the
way David remembered it; the mixture of her parents'
softer and sharper edges. One moment that voice could
be like velvet, the next, steel slicing through it.
"I don't expect you to understand-" David began.
"Oh, please! I may not be as brilliant as the twins,
but not everything they can do is beyond me. I
/understand/, David, I really do."
"What do you understand?" David asked.
"That you've betrayed us. That you sold out the
Khushrenadas, sold out Mariemaia, the twins, Aunt
Une... You coward! Why are you doing this? Why?"
"You know my mother's dead," David said.
"Big deal," was Elena's reply. "So's Mariemaia's
father."
"My mother /died/ in the war she caused! In the Eve
Wars. I was a few years younger than her, so I didn't
really understand then. But I do now! It's all her
fault, all of it. I've hated what's left of her
family ever since, and when I met Linnea, she- She
wanted me to help her destroy them. How could I
refuse?"
"I thought you /liked/ Mariemaia," Sarah said
quietly.
"Liked her? Hell no, Sarah, I don't-"
"Then why," Elena cut him off, "did you help her
investigate Linnea?"
"How do you know about that?"
Elena rolled her eyes. "No one notices the kids when
they're really busy. Lucian told me that once, and I
remembered it. It's true. I watched Mari and Aunt
Dorothy working on some stuff a couple days ago, and
heard them saying you were working with Mari on it."
"Huh," said David. "I've always thought they were
stupid with security where you kids were concerned.
Fact is, Elena, I didn't know much more about my
employer than Mariemaia does, and that bugged me. So
I thought I'd take what she could help me find out
about her- maybe it'd come in handy, who knows? But
if Linnea finds out I'm playing both sides against
the middle-"
"You're not even!" Sarah cried out. "You're working
for Linnea, and using Mari and her family- after all
they've done for you!"
David's expression hardly changed, not even when he
had slapped her and she lay back in Elena's arms,
sobbing and clutching at her cheek.
"Get out," Elena said, and though she was technically
/his/ prisoner, or at least that of his employer,
David found himself retreating before the steel edge
of the older girl.
Linnea was waiting outside, and she looked little
more pleased by what she'd heard than Elena was by
what she'd seen. "What the hell happened in there?"
she asked.
"You don't have cameras going? I'm surprised," David
said.
"Perhaps I do, perhaps I don't. Answer the question."
"Younger girl was giving me too much attitude, so I
decided to knock some sense into her."
"It seems to have worked wonders," Linnea said dryly.
"David."
"Yeah?"
"Look at me." Miserably, he did so. "If you /ever/
strike at one of my guests again, I will see you
returned to the waiting arms of Lady Une's family,
and I will personally tell that wretched woman what
you've done for me. Do you understand?"
"Y- yes, but-"
"I mean what I say, David. Your father's men worked
that case last summer, didn't they? The man they
found floating in the river?"
"Yeah," David said, then, with a moment's thought,
"They never did find the head, but DNA tests
confirmed he was a janitor at the council building
when-" /When somebody screwed up and placed the bomb
before she could get out of the building,/ he
thought.
"I see we understand each other," Linnea said.
"Yeah," David said just before running off to be sick
somewhere. "Perfectly."
* * *
Alice tugged at the aggravating Preventers' uniform
tie as she stepped out into the parking lot. "Damned
things," she muttered. Alice raised her voice. "Lady
Une, whose brilliant idea /were/ these things?"
"Why do you ask, Alice?" Une sounded more than a bit
distracted as she spoke.
"So I know who to kill," Alice replied. She took
another, longer look at her employer, and swore under
her breath. "Lady? What's wrong?"
"The children," Une said quietly, and outlined what
Trowa had told her over the phone.
Alice sighed. /Damnit!/ "At least one of us needs to
stay here- do you want me to go, or-?"
"Please, Alice," Une said. "There's not much I could
do there, and-"
"I'll take care of them," Alice promised her friend
as she shook ash from her braid before heading for
the car.
/Shit, where's Caro?/ Alice asked herself as she slid
behind the wheel. /I thought she was watching the
kids.../ She dialed Trowa before pulling out of the
lot, and slipped on her hands-free headset.
"Barton. Can it wait?"
"Probably not," Alice told him. "I'm on my way over."
"Good," said Trowa. "I've got my people searching the
hospital now, but there's no sign of the three
missing. Lewis tells me he saw Caro arguing with
Nichol just before they were all knocked out by the
gas."
"I don't suppose anybody's seen him lately," Alice
said. It wasn't a question, really.
"Alice, have I ever told you how much I like your
sense of humor?" Trowa asked.
"Not lately," was Alice's reply. "Does your sister
know yet?"
"Dorothy said she'd call her."
"Better she hears it from Dorothy than-"
"Yeah."
* * *
The Place Between Worlds
Walker moved through the crowds milling about the
snow-covered ground, doing his best to blend in. He
attached himself to a group of OZ soldiers- ex-OZ
soldiers now, he supposed -and listened to their
conversations. They didn't seem to know much of what
was going on, but their voices spoke words he knew,
ones that took him back to his days amongst the
living.
"-telling you, the Aires is the best of the mobile
suits-"
"Did you kick the bucket before the advent of the
Taurus?"
"Now, now- it's not nice to remind a man he's dead.
Takes all the fun out of arguing with you fools."
"-And you thought you were stuck in a rut before!
/Man/, I'm tellin' ya, we're /never/ gonna see
another promotion now, that's for damned sure!"
Walker smiled at that last as he drifted on, going
nowhere. The ghost of the OZ soldier sighed. He
didn't so much close his eyes, as make the sights
before him go away.
/Do you forgive me yet, Alice? I'd bet you do. You
always understood what I thought I had to do. But
about this- I'm sorry again, Alice. And this stuff
that's happening- I don't know if I can stop it, but
I'm sure as hell going to try./
With his eyes closed he could almost see her, the way
she'd appeared when last he looked into the Well of
Souls with Treize and the specter of Death; blonde
hair done up in the simple braid she favored, dressed
now not in the familiar OZ uniform he himself still
wore, but in the garb of Lady Une's Preventers. He'd
seen her tugging at the necktie more than once- and
what /was/ the point of such a hideously ugly
accessory, anyway?
He sighed again and faded out, repapering beside the
River of Forgetfulness, which he and Treize had
chosen as a meeting place for the same reason
everyone else seemed to avoid it- knowing it made the
others uneasy gave them some degree of security.
Walker kicked back against the tree stump from which
Treize had made his short speech to the 'troops' and
waited for the man himself to arrive.
It didn't take long; Treize was becoming adept at
knowing this realm, at knowing it as well as Death.
He sensed where he was needed now, and he went.
"Walker," Treize said with a nod. He was clearly
about to inquire as to the other man's progress, but
Walker shook his head, and held out his hands, palms
up and empty as if to say 'nothing'.
"No joy here, I'm afraid," Walker said. "There are so
many damned /people/ here, though, I hardly know
where to start looking."
"Souls, Walker. Ghosts, if you'd rather be less
poetic. Not people."
Walker shrugged. "Semantics, man. Anyway- I take it
you're not fairing much better?"
Treize shook his head. "I've seen a lot today, but
not much that makes sense."
"Ditto," said Walker. "You heard anything from our
scythe-wielding friend?"
"No," Treize replied. "He said only that he'd summon
us if we were needed, not that he'd be giving hourly
reports."
"Right," said Walker. "Well, Ghost Knight, I guess
I'm off to merge with the masses again in hopes of
picking up something useful this time around. Check
in with you later?"
"Alright," said Treize.
He sat beside the River after Walker had gone,
staring out at its frozen waters. He half-expected
Death to arrive and startle him out of his reverie,
as the specter had a habit of doing, but knew that
Death would keep his word, and not leave his post.
Treize had the eerie sense that he was being watched,
an itch between his shoulder blades made all the more
annoying by the fact he couldn't scratch what wasn't
really there. He did his best to ignore it, though;
more souls flooded into the Place Between Worlds
every day, and there were always some lurking about
where they should not have been. He did not consider
these his problem unless they got in his way, or in
such a case as Death asked him- politely -for his aid
in dispersing them. A thing which, frankly, he saw
the point of less and less- they would only regroup,
given time.
Treize sighed. No, there /had/ to be a permanent
solution to this puzzle. There had to be. And if
Death's chosen avatar couldn't find it- he shuddered
at the thought, and cast it aside.
* * *
Shadows pooled around the Dark Knight, thick and
textured, dark like seawater nearest the depths of
the ocean's floor. The Knight herself stood cloaked
in her shadows, garbed in the ebony armor of her
office, staring out with violet eyes that pierced the
darkness. Her fingers twitched at her side, near the
hilt of the rapier she wore, as she gazed out upon
her eternal and ever-present enemy, the Ghost Knight,
the man who once had called himself Treize
Khushrenada.
In life she had not known him, having died several
hundred years before his time. But it was the Dark
Knight's purpose in existence to oppose the force of
the Ghost Knight; theirs was a balance that must be
maintained. While the Ghost Knight served Death, the
Dark Knight answered to no one save herself. She had
been given, in a manner of speaking, the same choices
as Treize, and was only somewhat guided by the
aspects of Fate.
The Place Between Worlds was not her home as it was
Treize's; in reality she had no place. She existed in
the space between places, in the time that never was.
These things made as much sense to her as they were
ever going to. It was enough, to know what she was,
and the forces she must oppose.
She did what she had to, not so much because she
wanted to, but because it was what was required of
her. She had made the choices long ago, and these
things must be lived with, even in death. She could
not touch the world as directly as the Ghost Knight,
not yet, which was why she had made the ill-advised
alliance with the mortal woman, Linnea.
That wasn't her real name, a thing which the Dark
Knight knew and chose to disregard. It didn't matter
what the woman called herself, so long as she did
what she was told. Which she sometimes did not; that
foolish business of destroying the council building a
decade ago had been Linnea's idea. The Dark Knight
scoffed. Pity the woman hadn't managed to get herself
or that fool boy, David, killed back then.
She drew the shadows about herself and was gone, and
in the instant she vanished, the itch between
Treize's shoulder blades eased. She felt his relief,
and clearly sensed the thought: /Yes, leave me in
peace, you fools. You know nothing, and I would much
rather it stay that way./
She smiled as she returned to the place that wasn't,
the place that was hers. She agreed with her ages-old
enemy, really; better for all concerned if this
stayed between them. Of course, it wouldn't, Linnea's
actions had seen to that.
With that thought, the Dark Knight's smile faded as
if it had never been, and she went to one knee before
the pool of seeing that served her in a way similar
to the way the Well of Souls served the Ghost Knight;
as a window into the world she could never again
reach.
* * *
It was Mariemaia who found Carolyn, coming around the
back of the hospital to avoid the knot of reporters
who had staked out the front entrance. Somehow having
learned of the three girls' disappearance, they were
bound and determined to get the full story out of
somebody. Mariemaia, for her part, wasn't in the mood
to deal with them- her comments to reporters were
usually crude and unkind, and Lady Une and the others
had all but given up on advising her not to speak to
them at all. With the newsies, Mariemaia lost her
temper, and few of them could blame her for it.
She spotted the denim jacket against the concrete
slab, the hair tossed forward, covering the other
girl's face. Mariemaia's foot slammed on the break,
and she leapt from the car. She was running almost
before she knew it, running towards her friend.
"Caro!" Mariemaia exclaimed. "Carolyn!"
Dropping to her knees beside Carolyn, she brushed
back the auburn hair, one hand feeling for a pulse at
Caro's neck while the other pried open an eyelid. She
saw the pupil react, if sluggishly.
Carolyn moaned softly, and Mariemaia heaved a sigh of
relief. Caro came slowly back to wakefulness, her
eyes blinking rapidly. "Mari?" she asked at last.
"Yeah. Hi, Caro."
Caro started to smile, then her face crumpled.
"Sarah!" she cried. "Oh, God, /Sarah./ And Elena.
That bastard Nichol-" She pushed awkwardly at her
jacket sleeve, and the shirt sleeve beneath it. "I
knew it. He shot me up with something."
"Drugs," said Mariemaia. "But why-?"
"Some kind of hypnotic, I think. It kept me from
totally passing out when he tossed the gas grenade.
He told me to get Sarah, and I didn't have any
/choice/, I couldn't move except to do what he said.
He put Elena in the back of his car, and I put Sarah
in. I started to get in, too, and he pushed me away-
that's the last thing I remember. I guess I hit my
head."
"Your neck doesn't hurt or anything?" Mariemaia
asked, recalling what Sally had once told her about
not moving anyone if she suspected they had a back or
neck injury- a spinal injury such as a break could
lead to paralysis at best, death at worst.
"Nope," Caro said with a lopsided grin. "My /head/
hurts like hell, though."
"I'll bet," said Mariemaia. "Aunt Sally will kick my
ass if I move you and you've broken your back..."
"My back is fine," Caro replied. "What I'm worried
about isn't me- it's Sare and Elena. Where the hell
did Nichol-?"
"Trowa's got people on it," Mariemaia said. She
helped Carolyn to stand, carefully, and the two
inched their way along to the back entrance. Caro
swayed in her arms and lost consciousness again, and
Mariemaia raised her voice to shout for a doctor.
Sally was standing over her by the time Carolyn
regained consciousness. She'd been moved to a bed in
the emergency department, and Sally was speaking
quickly to an ER nurse.
"I don't like the way she keeps going in and out like
this- she's probably got a concussion, and things are
crazy enough that even if she's got somebody who can
keep her awake, I don't want to send her home..."
"Please, Aunt Sally," Caro cut in, "I've got to see
my parents..."
"They'll be by later," Mariemaia said. "I just got
off the phone with Aunt Catherine- who is seriously
pissed, by the way. When we catch up with Nichol,
Uncle Milliardo may have to stand in line."
"Did you tell her-?"
"She knows we found you, and that Sally's holding you
hostage till morning, yes," Mariemaia said. "You can
go visit my little brother later on- commensurate
together on Aunt Sally's sadistic tendencies to
confine people here."
Caro couldn't help laughing at that. "Alright,
alright. But-"
"Enough," Sally interrupted. "Carolyn, I'd like to
run some tests, to find out just what Nichol gave
you. We've had the gas from the grenade analyzed, but
I'm worried about the hypnotic and the damage it may
be doing your system. And before we can counter it-"
A lab technician stepped forward, holding a tray of
needles and tubes.
"You've got to know what it is," Caro said. "Sure, no
problem." She looked at her arms, then at the tech.
"You want the one Nichol stabbed, or the other?"
"Let's try the other," he said. "Give you a matched
set, huh?"
"Lovely," said Caro. "Aunt Sally, Mari-"
"As soon as we know anything, you'll know," Sally
promised, as she herded the others from the room, and
left with them.
The lab tech smiled at Caro as he prepped her arm for
the first blood test. "Family?" he asked.
"Sort of," Caro replied. "Our parents were close
during the war- mine, Mari's adoptive mother, the
parents of the other kids- You seen them today? Bunch
of them up on Three?"
"Oh yeah," said the tech. "Just a pinch now..."
"I don't know why you always give us that bullshit-
Ow." Caro grimaced. "Yeah, well... My kid sister's
sick, so when they needed somebody to watch the other
ones, Mom sent me."
"They're Preventers, right?" he asked. "Your
parents?"
"Most of them. One of my mothers works for them full-
time, the other is a consultant. She taught me how to
throw knives- but it still wasn't enough to stop
Elena and my own little sister from being taken."
"Not your fault," the tech said as the results of his
test came back. "Take a look at this." He showed her
the readout screen. "You were given a very high dose
of a hypnotic so unstable even the military stopped
using it- around AC 195 or so, if I remember right."
Caro swore under her breath. "The guy who took Sare
and Elena, was with OZ back then. Specials."
"Probably where he learned about this stuff, if not
where he grabbed it from," the tech said. "I've got
to get this report to Dr. Chang. You okay for a few?"
"Yeah," Carolyn said, though the last thing she felt
was okay. Her sister and Elena were missing, taken by
the one Preventer none of them trusted, who Caro
suspected, but thus far couldn't prove, was working
at some level with Linnea Khushrenada, who had been
the bane of their existence with a renewed vengeance
since the start of the summer.
Often praised by her teachers for her quick mind and
analytical skills, Caro turned her thoughts to a
small portion of the problem at hand- the hypnotic
she'd been injected with, and where and how Nichol
might have gotten hold of it.
Many things had been 'misplaced' during the war; some
stolen or destroyed by Gundam pilots or other rebel
factions like the one Sally and Wufei had worked with
in China, other things reported stolen by corrupt
officers and resold on the black market. When OZ
decided to put an end to their use of drugs such as
the hypnotic, less careful track was kept of all the
samples. People were supposed to /know/ it was
dangerously unstable by then, and any reasonable
person would have kept well away from it.
Which was, Caro thought wryly, perhaps one
explanation for how Nichol had ended up with a
syringe full to stick in her arm this afternoon, if
not exactly what she'd been looking for. She sighed.
She would have to give this more thought, perhaps
when her head was clearer.
* * *
Realm of the Dark Knight
Pool of Seeing
The Dark Knight fell to one armor-clad knee, and
teased at the waters before her with the shadows
under her command. "Linnea," she said in a voice that
was cold and ageless.
The silver-eyed woman appeared in her view, her image
fading out at the edges. She brushed at the wisps of
her curly hair, as if meaning to look her best, and
the Dark Knight stifled a laugh.
"L-lady," Linnea spoke up at last.
The Knight shook her head, dark brown hair dancing
over her shoulders though Linnea could not see it.
She had not removed her helm in centuries; no one
needed to see her face, and she could not herself
stand to look upon it. "You have done what I asked,
Linnea, but only just."
"Mistress, I thought-"
"/You/ wanted this alliance, Linnea- wanted it rather
badly as I recall. And the conditions of it were
simple. You were to do /exactly/ as I asked of you-
and that is very important to me, my dear. /Very/
important." The Dark Knight glared down upon her
misguided mortal agent. "No protests of your
innocence? Good girl. Now, answer me this: Elena,
Sarah, Carolyn. What were you /thinking/?"
"Perhaps- leverage, over the others, Mistress?"
Again the Knight shook her head. "No. You would turn
them first, wouldn't you? So your would-be Empress
has ready allies?"
"Queen," Linnea corrected softly.
"Don't," the Knight said. "Linnea, Linnea, Linnea...
you're not /thinking/! If what you want is something
of the familiar for your would-be Queen, something
you can trust, you need the twin. Not the others."
Linnea shook her head. "I've told you- The twin is
not amiable. It's the reason I chose Terra in the
first place. Her brother is too much his father's
son."
For the first time the Dark Knight lost control of
her tightly-reined emotions. "You are a monster. You
would use children for your own ends-"
"And you're hardly a saint, lady, so don't you start
throwing stones-"
Violet eyes flared at her through the eye slits of
the helm, and Linnea shrank back. "I am not one of
your mortal pawns, /Leia/. You may have cheated
Death, but I know how much it has troubled him. If
you would see this through to its end, you will see
him again, and sooner than you'd like. I can make
sure of it."
"Bitch!" cried Linnea.
The Dark Knight laughed. "Yes, my dear. Yes, I am
that, and many other things besides. Now. You will do
as I say, or I shall withdraw my support from you.
With no avatar to support you, you will revert to
what you are- a dead woman who has lived too long.
Think on that."
The pool turned opaque again; she had said what she
wished to, and any rebuttal Linnea might form was not
important. It was only when she saw his reflection in
the waters that she knew she was not alone.
"This is /my/ place!" she snarled at the specter at
her back. "It may not truly exist, but it is /mine/,
and you cannot-"
"Peace, my dear." Death tossed back the hood of his
cloak, and for just a moment she saw not the skeletal
features of the specter, but the face of a man,
remarkably ordinary- hazel-green eyes, dark hair, a
small beard- and then it was gone.
"Don't!" she cried. The Knight regained control of
herself with an effort, and heaved a sigh. "What do
you want? You should be back in your own realm."
"And I will go soon, but first-" Death paused as he
drew back up his hood. "I was wrong, wasn't I? You
are not my Ghost Knight's enemy, not here. Not
intentionally. Linnea-"
The Knight shook her head. "Perhaps. But who is to
say that mine is the only patronage she enjoys?"
Death sighed. "You are right, and I was a fool not to
see it."
"You are busy, old friend," she said quietly. "And
she is but one soul-"
He laughed shortly. "So I once thought of Treize
Khushrenada. Careful how you choose your avatars,
lady- or how they choose you."
She bowed slowly. "If it is your wish, I will speak
to the Fates."
"I doubt they will intervene yet."
"No, of course not," she replied. "But it may be that
I can learn something of use from them."
Death nodded, and returned to his own realm by
stepping backward and fading from her sight.