~*~Chapter Twenty-Seven~*~
Sylvia almost upset her glass of orange juice when she heard Trowa's plan from Relena. " Does he really want to do that?"
She nodded. " Yes. We have all decided."
" Will it work?"
" I hope so. All of them are very confident about it. Do you want to help us?"
Sylvia hesitated. She was pondering over something. Relena touched her shoulder gently.
" Is anything wrong, Sylvia?"
The petite girl shook her head and plastered on a quick smile. " No, I'm only worried about Quatre…whether this plan will work or not."
" You have to have faith in them. Heero and the rest can turn the 'impossible' into 'possible'," Relena told her confidently.
That night, alone in her room, Sylvia began her ritual. She sat cross-legged on the bed, closed her hands together in prayer-like pattern and brought it to her forehead. She pressed her forehead lightly and muttered incantations, going into a dreamy state.
The room was unlit and there was no moon or stars. A thunder rumbled in the distance, growing louder by the minute. Perfect.
Heero and Trowa were in Quatre's room. It was dark. The three of them were sitting in a triangle, with the blond boy looking very tensed. He was not sure what they want with him but he has a hunch it is not something very good.
" Are you sure Relena has told her?" Trowa asked.
" I trust Relena," Heero answered simply.
" It is now past midnight."
" Could be some unorthodox skill."
Quatre studied them carefully. " What is it that you want? I don't understand."
Heero looked at him with his famous stare. " You don't have to."
They fell into silence again. They were all waiting, waiting for something to happen. The clock struck one.
And it happened. It was so sudden. Quatre went stiff and his mouth opened soundlessly. He tried to move, but he could not. He was choking. He cannot breathe. His mind was in a whirl. Something, someone is taking something away from him. He cannot stop that evil. He can't. It is too strong.
As if on cue, Heero and Trowa sprang up and held him down on the floor. Trowa flashed out the Sandrock and Heavyarms tablet and hit it on Quatre's forehead. Heero did likewise with his Wing Zero tablet.
Quatre went still. His body relaxed tremendously. That life-stealing torture was gone as swiftly as it had came. He stared at his two friends, who looked relieved to see him back to normal. Trowa extended a hand to help him sit up.
" You okay?" he asked.
He nodded thoughtfully. " What…happened?"
Heero stood up and walked to the window. There was no moon or stars tonight, only a rumbling thunder and the start of a disturbing drizzle. " Quatre, I will show you who has been making you suffer."
Sylvia bent over in pain. She clutched her head and pulled her hair. Who…who has broken my spell? Quatre can't do it himself! He is not strong enough. There must be someone else! Who is he? She wiped the trickle of blood from her mouth, feeling physically weak. Damn! That bastard is formidable! She was not prepared at all for that sneak attack.
She fell backwards on her bed. Sweat coated her face. Her body trembled with dark fury; she cannot lose to them! Not when her dream is in sight.
The rain came down harder.
The next morning, Trowa came out of his room to find Sylvia waiting for him. Her face brightened up upon seeing him.
" Good morning, Trowa," she greeted him cheerfully.
" Good morning. Are you looking for me?" he asked her.
She lowered her voice, " Can I speak to you in private for a few minutes?"
Without hesitating, he walked ahead of her, an indication for her to follow him.
Sylvia sat down at the bench in the royal garden. " Don't you want to sit down?"
" No thanks," he answered and folded his arms.
" This is such a nice place."
" What is it that you want?"
She smiled up at him. " I have noticed that you Gundam Guardians do not like to beat around the bush. I like your style."
He eyed her without a hint of interest.
" It's about Quatre," she said softly. " I hate to see him suffer so much. He's such a nice person. You know, everyone of us has a point in life that we wish to forget because it is something that hurts us most. For me, I wish I could forget about the death of my foster parents and start life anew. I know they would want me to do that. Sometimes, I still wake up in the middle of the night crying for them. I think it is the same with Quatre."
" What do you wish to suggest by bringing this up?" Trowa asked her.
She paused for a moment. " Forget about bringing him back, Trowa. Just let him be. Don't you understand? He doesn't want to remember his past at all. It is too painful for him, both physically and mentally."
" I'm afraid you are the one who doesn't understand, Sylvia," he interrupted her. " As you have said, everyone of us have a painful point of time in life. But it is no use if we just try to run away from it. It is not helping him or you at all. Instead of being a coward, you should try to look ahead for better things. I hope that you can understand that we are not trying to harm Quatre but we are only helping him find what is rightfully his ______"
He looked down into her eyes and Sylvia found herself blushing from his nonchalant attention. " ______ His memory."
With that, he left her alone. She was surprised, so surprised with herself. What is wrong with me? Her face was hot and her palms were wet. She stared at the path that he had walked down.
Yes, it is true he is a handsome fellow but…That person's image filled her mind. How can it be…Shocked and unable to believe in herself, she slapped her own face hard.
Sylvia Noventa! What were you thinking? Why are you thinking of him? This can never happen! Her eyes were fast becoming moist.
" How can I fall in love with him? How can I?…"Quatre followed behind Noin to the dining room. He sneezed once, followed by Trowa and then Wufei in a simultaneous pattern. Duo looked at them with amusement.
" Don't tell me the three of you caught the flu bug by frocklicking in the water?" he taunted. Wufei glared at him with a Don't-talk-rot-or-I'll-kill-you expression.
Duo continued as if he had not seen him. " No? Then someone must be cursing the three of you."
Relena could not help but grin.
Quatre bowed his head low, unable to meet any of his friends' eyes. How could he? After what had happened? Noin had personally gone up to his room and dragged him to the dining table instead of allowing him to eat in his room. He had already packed his things and was actually ready to leave yesterday morning but Heero had stopped him by saying that he should at least wait till today for he has something to show him.
Noin pulled a chair for him. " Sit down, Quatre. We are all friends."
" I…"
Noin pushed him gently to the chair. " If you are really going to leave tomorrow, let this be our last dinner together."
He sat down without another word.
Pargon entered with Sylvia at his side. " Tonight's dinner is very special," he announced to the group. " Miss Sylvia actually cooked all the dishes."
" Wow!" Duo exclaimed as Sylvia put down his dinner. " It looks delicious, doesn't it, Quatre?" He nudged his pal with his elbow.
" Thank you, Sylvia," Relena said.
" It's my honour," Sylvia replied easily.
Noin looked around. " Where's Zechs?"
Heero answered, " He'll be down soon. He has some work to finish."
" Why didn't he tell me?" She got up.
" Sit down. He'll be down soon."
Noin obeyed.
Sylvia continued to smile as she put down Heero's dinner. In that case, I'll have to finish him off later. He's not my match, anyway.
She placed the bowl of soup down and garnished it with pepper and finely chopped tomato. Heero studied her hand. She moved her wrist a little, very little. The movement was so slight that it was easy for any person to miss it. The white powder that fell from the sleeve of her dress was instantly mixed with the fine pepper powder.
Heero was the last one to be served. Before anyone could tuck into their dinner, Heero stood up, and caught Sylvia's wrist, startling them all.
" Sylvia, I think you have added an extra ingredient," he said to her coldly and proceeded to push up her sleeve. The small, transparent packet of white powder fell out. " Or maybe I should address you as 'spy,'" he said to her astonished, angry face.
Everyone, except him, Trowa and Dorothy, were shocked. She surveyed all them before regaining her calm.
" So, the game is over." She pushed Heero away with a mighty blow on his shoulder and turned to escape, only to be stopped by Zechs at the doorway.
He tried to grab her but she ducked down and disappeared.
" Where is she?" Dorothy cried. " We must catch her!"
A second later, an invisible force crashed one of the windows and the gang knew that she had escaped. There was a moment of silence and anticipation.
Heero turned to Quatre. " It was she who had pushed you down the cliff and prevented you from recovering your memory. So, you have no reason to leave us from now on."
Quatre squeezed his eyes shut for a few seconds before reopening them and replied, " I'm sorry."
Trowa said, " It wasn't your fault. She was the cause of it."
" How did you know she is a spy from OZ?" Duo asked.
" It was an intuition initially," Heero explained to them. " I have always been wary of her ever since she arrived with Wufei. I find her story and acting much too convincing and convenience. There was simply no way for us to check up her background. At first, I thought I might be too suspicious but when I caught her eavesdropping outside the door, I knew that she's not as simple as she seems. About three days ago, I saw Dorothy coming out of Quatre's room. She told me that she was suspicious of Sylvia and right then I knew my intuition right. An evil person can sense another person's evilness."
Dorothy shot back, " I am not an evil person!"
Heero replied brusquely, " But you were a notorious girl in school."
Relena patted Dorothy's arm with a little reassuring smile.
" So after I heard Trowa's plan, I decided to tell him and Zechs my suspicions. They had their doubts at first but after I told them my plan to lure the real her out, they agreed. I deliberately asked Relena to tell Sylvia of Trowa's plan. Last night, in Quatre's room we waited for her to take action on him. True enough, she tried to harm Quatre again. If not for her, Quatre would have recovered. She wanted to break us up before killing us off one by one.
"When her plan failed last night, she would have to take another action because she was aware that someone in here has discovered her true intention. So instead of attacking us one by one, she decided to strike all of us. When I heard that she would be preparing tonight's dinner, I knew she would try to poison all of us. So I arranged with Zechs to ambush her."
Pargon sighed. " Thank god everyone is safe. I should have realized something was wrong when she offered to prepare dinner and literally dragged me and the staff out of the kitchen."
" It wasn't you fault, Pargon," Relena said. " I would never have expected Sylvia to be a spy."
Trowa cleared his throat. " Heero, I think you and Zechs forgot something."
Upon hearing Trowa's words, Zechs stiffened and looked away. He mumbled something to Pargon who raised his eyebrows and wordlessly, trotted out of the room. Wufei caught a brief smile between Trowa and Heero.
" What are you people up to?" he questioned.
Zechs looked at Heero. " He asked me to prepare dinner for you. I was in my room busy doing that. Since you and Trowa can cook better than I do, why don't you do that?"
" Sylvia was suspecting us and if we do that and she would certainly change her strategy. I didn't want anyone to go hungry so I had to ask you."
Relena's eyes sparkled. " What did you prepare, Brother?"
Zechs folded his arms in a superior manner. " Something very easy."
Pargon came back with a big plate of…
" Sandwiches!" Duo laughed uncontrollably. " Sure you didn't mistake the glue for salad cream?"
There was a remark coming out of everyone's mouth as they took the sandwiches.
" Not bad…" Quatre commented.
" Thank you for your compliment," Zechs said.
Wufei took one but only managed a small bite. He felt foolish for not realizing Sylvia's plot and her identity. Cheated by a stupid girl…I ought to kill myself. More than that, he felt disappointed in her. Why must she fall into the Devil's path? Why, Sylvia?…
Heero approached him. " She had kept her identity well. Her magical abilities must be very powerful, to be able to hide it from all of us. Would you help me in destroying her? I'm sure she had a part in Hilde's death."
Wufei bit off a big part of his sandwich. " Why do you ask me? I thought you know I am always on the side of justice."
*************************************************************
Sylvia was back at the secret compartment in OZ. She and Master were having a talk behind the white curtain.
" Sylvia, what happened?"
" Heero Yuy…I'll get him for this."
" What do we do now? Should we attack Magic Kingdom?"
" No, why mobilize the army for that small pitiful kingdom? We'll invite them here instead. Heero Yuy made a fool out of me. Let's see how he feels when he faces death."
" Don't you think you are being too rash?"
" Don't teach me what to do!"
" It's not that I want to rebuke you but you are still young. My duty is to help you and to take care of you."
" I know you mean well but this time, I am really, really angry."
" …"
*************************************************************
Lady Une knocked on Treize's door.
" Enter, Lady Une."
It was the first time in what seemed like years that he had asked for her. She could barely speak. Did Sally manage to talk him round?
Treize stood up from his desk. " First, I must apologize for making you worry."
" It doesn't matter."
" That monster has cheated my trust. You have no idea how I feel. But don't worry, I am all right now. I just needed time to sort things out, that's all. I'm sorry, my Lady."
Une shook her head. She was simply too happy. " I'm glad you are now back to yourself."
Treize handed a rose to her. " Forgive me." His eyes were as soft as the white clouds that idled in the sky.
" I have never blamed you," she whispered and took the rose.
" Will you go with me to see Zechs and Noin?"
" I'll go wherever you go."
Night came. It is time to sleep again. Once again, Zechs find it hard to rest. He gazed at himself in the mirror. There was nothing wrong with this immaculate reflection. He looked perfect. His face betrayed him nothing at all.
Yet…
He sighed deeply, silently, and rose to his heavy feet. He pushed open his window and sat on the ledge. He looked down. Many a time, he had this feeling, this feeling of death. Maybe his doom is near ______ he is going to die soon.
Why am I being so pessimistic?
All his life, he has been fighting for the mere sake of survival. He knows himself best. He had Treize as his friend and more recently, Noin as his assistant and…He has been fighting. He only knows how to fight. What if one day he can fight no more? What will he do?
Zechs shook his head.
Why am I being so pessimistic?
What will the future be like? Will peace come? Relena…he has faith in her. She can achieve her goal. The road will be long and winding, but she can do it. He has faith in her. She can create a future for soldiers like him who only knows how to fight and nothing else. Relena can do it. So why does he still worry? More and more people are already turning their heads towards peace, dropping their wish for peace and freedom on Magic Kingdom. He is no weak man. Relena is more than a solid human form.
Why am I being so pessimistic?
What is peace? What can peace do? Will the people learn? Will people ever learn that power, fame and wealth are only an ephemeral firefly? What if ten years later, after all our efforts, they pick up their weapons again? Noin, what is she thinking? Zechs know what she will tell him. She will tell him not to be so pessimistic. She will point out his good points. She will tell him what he can do. She will tell him what he has achieved. And he will appreciate her for that.
" Why are you looking so pessimistic?" someone asked him.
" And what are you doing here, Treize Khushrenada?" Zechs asked him in return. He turned to greet his friend.
" Long time no see, Zechs. Or shall I address you as Prince Millardo?" Treize positioned a hand at the side of his waist.
" What are you doing here?" he repeated his question flatly.
His friend smiled. " I'm here to see a friend and ask him about his health. You look unhappy. Care to share it with me?"
" Friend? Are we still friends? Treize, I can take you down right now but on account of our past relationship, I will see what you have to say first."
" You are confident of defeating me, aren't you? Let me tell you, we have no reason to fight at all. Not when I'm no longer a believer of OZ."
Zechs stood up straight. " You mean…"
" I am not officially out of OZ but I have straightened out my thoughts. I shall no longer fight with them."
" You will join us?"
Treize extended a hand. He was still the Treize Zechs knew but this time, he is jumping over to the righteous side. Zechs believed him. Treize is a gentleman with a honourable reputation built from all the years he had known him. Both men shook hands firmly.
" Lady Une and I will help you from the inside, along with Sally Po I believe. Before we discuss anything, let's just have a chat first, a heart-to-heart chat," he said and pulled a chair to sit down. " Millardo Peacecraft, what you are doing is right. Do not doubt yourself. Believe your sister, believe the five boys, and believe that everyone is with you. They are right, you are right. You hold your own future. Make it a good one."
Zechs mused over what Treize had just told him. First, how does he know what he has been thinking? He never fails to be amazed by his perspicacity. Just a few words from him and everything make sense. Which is why Treize has always being his best friend and advisor.
Noin came out of the bathroom to find Lady Une in her room looking at her with a pair of benign eyes. She was quickly on her guard.
" Lady Une," she acknowledged her presence.
" Hello Noin. Do not be alarm; I am no longer the Lady Une who fights against you. Treize and I have decided to help you," she answered smoothly.
Noin was still suspicious. " I don't believe you."
Une smiled easily. " I know you won't. But you believe Zechs, don't you? Treize is now in his room talking with him. If anything is wrong, he would have raised the alarm by now."
Noin scrutinized her like a hawk. Should I trust her?
Then Lady Une did an unexpected action. She slapped herself hard on the cheek.
" What are you doing?" Noin exclaimed.
" This is my way of apologizing to you. I have done you wrong. I don't know how to make up for it," she replied, her voice brimming with remorse. " I will just stand here and you can hit me. I won't retaliate."
" Why do you do this? Even if you are really sorry, you don't have to do this," Noin said. She took three steps nearer to her. " If you are really sorry you should he racking your brains, thinking of a way to help us."
Une's eyes lit up. " You forgive me?"
Noin tried to hide her smile. " You were, after all, an esteemed school principal."
She chuckled. " That was a long time ago. I now follow Treize." She extended her hand. " Friends?"
Without hesitation, she put out her hand too. " Partners."
*************************************************************
The next morning, when Quatre came down for breakfast, he was surprised to see only Relena at the table.
" Where's everyone?" he asked her.
" Sit down," Relena said instead. " You must be hungry. Pargon has prepared a scrumptious breakfast for you."
Bewildered, Quatre sat down and started to eat his meal. He stopped after a few bites. " Have they gone out?"
" Eat your breakfast. I'll take you to a place after this," she said.
Quatre followed Relena closely. The streets were bustling as usual and no one seemed to notice them. Not that he would mind, anyway. Relena was behaving very strangely. He could not comprehend what was happening. And he had no idea what was going to happen next. He bumped into strangers and they bumped into him. He apologized constantly. Market day is not his favourite day.
He followed her to an old, dilapidated school. The school has been shut down for renovation and since it was the school holiday for the students, they need not miss any lessons at all. Relena will be overseeing the renovation work personally to ensure it will be the best learning place for all. And with the use of magic, the renovation will be over in no time.
" Wait here," she said and vanished into the building.
Quatre waited and waited. Relena had gone in there for fifteen minutes. " Relena?" he called out. No answer.
From his back, a familiar voice responded, " Do you miss me, Quatre honey?"
He whirled round to see Dorothy dressed in a very, very familiar school uniform. She attempted to lean onto him but he stepped aside just in time. " H-Hi Dorothy. What are you doing here?"
" I should be asking you that," she continued to smile seductively. " Are you looking for me?"
" No, I…"
" That's so wicked of you," she put on a mock, irritated voice. " Have you forgot? We had such a nice date together."
" Huh?" Quatre was utterly confused. This is indeed a very, very strange morning.
" Oh, that's the school bell. Do look me up ok, darling?" She winked at him and disappeared into the school building, just as Relena had. He could feel the goose bumps on his skin.
Before he had any time to absorb what had happened, noises from behind made him turn back again. This time, it was his friends. They were all wearing very familiar school uniforms. He did not have a chance to call to them before someone started speaking.
" Who is their chief?" Quatre asked. Quatre? The real Quatre stared at the look-alike Quatre.
Duo and Trowa were shaking their heads. "No one knows," Duo said sadly. " I'm still puzzled about how we can defeat this OZ. I mean, we are only teenagers. And there are only five of us here. Plus the girls, it's only eight. Tell me, how on earth do we subdue a whole army who is as evil as the Devil himself?"
There was a brief silence. " We need to inform the girls," look-alike Quatre told his friends. They stared at him.
" You go tell them," Wufei answered. The rest murmured in agreement.
Look-alike Quatre sighed. His friends were waiting for his answer. Heero was wearing his you-better-do-it-or-else look. Duo was grinning. Trowa, even the deadpan Trowa, was sharing Heero's expression. Wufei, needless to say.
Look-alike Quatre sighed again. " Can I say no?"
" No," all four answered back in unison.
" All right, I'll tell them tomorrow if I have the chance."
They walked pass Quatre without seeming to notice him and again, they went into the old building. Quatre felt as if he was witnessing a merging of two parallel worlds where he can see them and they cannot see him. Either that or they are all blind. He ruled out the second option. Could it be they are rehearsing a play for Relena? He just cannot figure it out.
A force, a strong force was urging him to enter the school. He started walking into the school. Quatre felt as if he could find an answer there, the final piece of puzzle to his incomplete jigsaw puzzle. The moment he stepped in, boys stream out of every classroom and brushed pass him. They were laughing, shouting, complaining and joking about something.
Look-alike Quatre appeared again. He was walking towards Quatre with the other four boys behind him. Trowa was laughing; Heero's head was bowed but he was sniggering; Wufei was grinning like nobody's business; and Duo was worst. He was roaring with laughter. Tears were streaming down his face from his efforts.
Boys were yelling out to the embarrassed look-alike Quatre, whose face was burning hot red.
" Way to go Quatre!"
"You little devil Winner!"
" Why didn't you tell us?"
" Tell me, is this a joke you're playing on them, Casanova?"
" Who would have dreamt of it? Our Quatre!"
Duo then stopped look-alike Quatre, who was walking faster by the second, and taunted him about being a 'playboy'. They were standing right in front of Quatre, yet he could not hear them. No, he can hear them. Just that…just that it is not their voices he is hearing now. No, it is their voices he is hearing! He is hearing their voices from another time, a time he had long forgotten, a time he treasured so fondly.
" Playboy Quatre!"" Please Duo, can you please stop? At most, I'll help you wash the dishes."
" Oh? Stop what? What was I doing?"
" Was it you?"
" No doubt."
" It's the norm."
" I agree."
" But it isn't me! I swear by the devil himself, this time it isn't me!"
" But not everything is pure on earth, we have our dark moments. And eventually, everyone and everything will have to die. When we die, we go to hell. Hell is dark."
" Our tablets glowed!"
The real Quatre blinked. He was so absorbed with his own thoughts that he failed to notice the already empty school. He peeped into classrooms after classrooms only to find them void. Strange, my head did not hurt.
He wandered about, clueless. Soon, he found himself in the courtyard of this small school. An ancient and gnarled maple tree stood rooted forlornly in the middle, whispering unknown school tales to anyone who cares enough to sit down and listen.
He felt attached to the tree, he did not know why. An intimate and indescribable feeling beckoned him to come closer. He touched its trunk. A tickling sensation trickled down his spine and expanded throughout his whole body. He leaned his back against it, and slid to the ground, bringing his knees up and laid his soft cheeks on them lightly. He stayed there for merely five minutes before a friendly greeting and two pairs of footsteps rudely interrupted him.
Duo waved his arms at him. " Yo Quatre! We've been looking everywhere for you."
Trowa followed behind him. A sudden rustling from above made Quatre look up. Wufei and Heero were perched on the branches above him. He had no idea they were there all along. The thick, emerald-coloured leaves provided a good cover for them.
Trowa sat down beside him quietly while Duo shouted to the two above. " Hey Heero! Wufie boy!"
Wufei growled back in response, " Stop calling me Wufie. Or you'll regret it."
Duo simply laughed. " Wufie. I like this name better. Hey Quatre, have you done your homework yet?"
" Homework?" Quatre stared at him. What homework?
He squinted his eyes. " Don't tell me you forgot to do the homework that Mr. J gave us."
" You forgot to do your homework too. You want to copy from Quatre," Heero said neutrally from his position above.
Trowa shook his head in a resigned manner. " This is the third time this week."
Duo looked at all of them with large pleading eyes. He clasped his hands together. " Please, buddies. You are my buddies right? We help each other right? Please help me ok? Quatre?"
Something happened then. Something welled up inside him. It was bursting to get out. He finally understood, he finally could fathom that intimate and indescribable feeling. It was love. It was love for his friends. It was love from them. It was this special chemistry that binds them together with each other.
And he remembered. He remembered everything. He had not forgot them at all. He had not forgot the things that had happened to him, to them, to the world. He has memories, precious and delicate memories. He has them all along. He had not lost them. He has found them back. His memories…my memories…
Quatre laughed. He just laughed. Maybe it was Duo who had made him laugh. Maybe it was Trowa or Heero or Wufei. Maybe he was laughing at himself. He just laughed. And laughed and laughed.
The other four stared at him for a moment and it was Trowa who first comprehend the situation.
" We did it. Quatre has got his memories back."
Duo let out a loud " Yes!!!" and Wufei and Heero jumped down from the tree. They crowded round Quatre and Duo pulled him into a small victory dance; the other three high-five one another and grinned from ear to ear.
Relena, Noin, Dorothy and Zechs came out of their hiding places, clapping. The boys had succeeded. Quatre's memory has returned to him.
Quatre looked at them, thanking them with grateful eyes. He felt as if he had not seen them in years. " Thank you, all of you. Thank you." He controlled his tears.
" This is so great," Relena said.
Noin put her arm round him. " Good to have the old Quatre back."
He blushed. " I apologize for all the trouble I have caused. I'm sorry."
" You don't have to apologize. We understand," Duo said. " Thank Trowa. It was his idea to act out this little play for you. We rehearsed till 3am last night! Just now, I was trying so hard to avoid your eyes. We roped in Dorothy at the last minute 'cause we thought she would make an impact on you since you two got along so well." He chuckled.
Dorothy flipped her hair behind her. " I must say it was fun."
" Maybe I can be an actor!" Duo said. " I didn't know I could act so well." He leaned on Quatre with an elbow.
Quatre turned to Trowa, " Thanks Trowa."
Trowa shook his head. " I just want my old friend back."
" Thank you everyone, thank you." He waited till Duo has settled down before asking, " Who transformed and acted as me just now?"
Everyone turned to look at Zechs. He smiled. " I must say it is rather hard to act as you. I am not as gentle as you."
Duo and Dorothy started teasing Quatre and it seemed they were back to their school days when they had nothing else to worry about except schoolwork, exams and getting caught by Mr. J for being up to some mischief.
Just then, Pargon rushed in frantically with a letter. His white brows were crinkled with worry. " Miss Relena!" he said breathlessly. " Queen Relena!"
" What's wrong Pargon? Why are you so frantic?" Relena asked as she caught him before he tripped.
" A letter…OZ has sent a letter!" He handed the white envelope to her.
To: Queen Relena Peacecraft
From: OZ
With a deep frown, Relena tore open the envelope. Her eyes scanned the entire letter. Quietly, worriedly, she passed the letter to her brother who then gave it to the rest to read it. The words on the white-coloured letter were short, crisp and straight to the point. The handwriting was very neat, as if written by a lady.
" It's a challenge letter," Zechs said. " We will be going to another war. This one will decide all our future. This will be our showdown with OZ."
Dorothy clapped her hands. " War! We are going to war again!" Her expression was as joyful as a birthday child's.
*************************************************************
Wufei lay on the grass. He was away from all the noise in the kingdom. Everyone is busy preparing for the showdown. He ought to be preparing too. However, he also think he should rest and sort out his thoughts. Quatre has recovered and he felt happy for him. What else is there to worry about?
Something nudged and tugged inside him. What is it? He didn't know. There is something, something good, something bad. Maybe it is some premonition. But no, it doesn't felt like one. It is something new.
The stars shone.
The moon glowed.
The night breeze blew.
The crickets called.
He still cannot figure it out.
