Disclaimer:
All Gundam Wing characters belong to Sotsu Agency Sunrise and Bandai. I do own this little
fanfic though.
Everyone was aware of Noin's absence at the breakfast table the next morning, but no one said anything, and Sylvia was especially happy about it. Things went on as usual though it was obvious that the guys were preoccupied and were not very keen on anything.
Then it happened when everyone was gathered at the large meeting room of the lodge. Several armed men ambushed unexpectedly, and took over the place within a few minute. Heero, Duo, Wufei, and other guards could not make any move because every attacker had his gun aimed at either the Princesses or the three bride candidates. The other people were herded into a group in the corner of the room.
The two princesses of Sanc appeared to be calm, but the looks they cast at their brother and their guards were worried and concerned. Catherine stared at the men and was shocked to the state of speechlessness. Sylvia was scared and would had screamed at the top of her voice if there wasn't a gun pointing at her head. Sally, having come from a military family background, was composed enough to comfort the trembling Catherine. Dorothy was not threatened, but she was not pleased at all.
"What is this all about?" Dorothy stepped out from the group of hostages and demanded angrily.
"Orders from the Duke to warn the head of the Pacific Enterprise not to interfere with our business again." The leader of the group answered monotonously.
"This is rude." Dorothy frowned. "You are getting innocent people involved."
"Too bad. This will teach anyone who wishes to have anything to do with Pacific."
"You!" Dorothy growled.
"Just stay away and you'll be alright, Miss Dorothy." The leader said, pointing his gun at Miliardo as he spoke.
"What do you think you're doing?" Dorothy stepped between the man and the Prince.
"Miss Dorothy, get away." The man warned. "We have full consent of the Duke to execute anyone who gets in our way, including you."
Everyone in the room was stunned to hear this, especially Dorothy.
"Grandfather?" Dorothy said unbelievingly.
"Yup." The man smiled menacingly. "In case you didn't know, Treize is a better heir than you are, so you are not really relevant to Duke Dermail and the Foundation."
"No!" The blond girl cried out weakly and almost collapsed. Miliardo, who was standing behind her, held her to keep her on her feet.
"Hmm, I think we've got everyone." The leader surveyed the people present in the room.
"No, you don't!" Sylvia called out suddenly. "You haven't got my guard yet."
"Sylvia!!" Most people in the room yelled out. They were somewhat comforted that Noin did not show up and was therefore spared by the attackers, but now Miss Jealously just let the cat out of the bag.
"Ah, yes. The handsome young guard." The man grinned. "Well, since he's not here among you, obviously our little trick worked. Don't worry, he'll join you people very soon."
"So it was you who poisoned Noin." Wufei narrowed his eyes.
"Why, yes." The man chuckled. "The plan turned out better than we hoped. Many of you were actually affected by it so much that you did not even detect or suspect our coming."
"That was pretty impressive thinking." Wufei snorted loudly. "I am surprised that there actually are people with brains in Romefeller." His comment immediately earned him a solid punch in the stomach, but he did not seem to mind.
"Anyway, let's get back to business." The leader aimed his gun at Dorothy. "Last call, Miss. Go away or get shot."
Miliardo tried to push Dorothy away, but she would not move and spread out her arms in front of the Prince stubbornly. The leader ran out of patience and proceeded to pull the trigger. However, before he could do that, one of his men went down without warning. Someone broke in from the window and knocked him out. That someone, though, was quickly aimed at with a gun by one of the attack team members.
"Well, what an unexpected but pleasant surprise!" The leader exclaimed mockingly. He walked toward the intruder and changed his target to the dark-haired individual with a menacing grin on his face. "Welcome to the party, my dear guard. It appears the poison wasn't enough to keep you away." He then turned to Wufei knowingly. "Nice try back there, covering him to sneak on us like this."
Wufei didn't say anything and just glared at him.
The leader turned his attention back to the new comer. "My, you don't look too well. You really should have stayed in bed, quietly waiting for your turn."
Noin smiled weakly, cold beads of water ran down her pale face. "How can I miss such a gathering?"
The leader eyed her carefully, then he smiled. "To award your effort of making the party, I shall let you be the guest of honour, and put you out of your misery first." He aimed at her.
Time seemed to freeze at that moment, and the room was completely silent. A voice broke the silence suddenly. "Sept, neuf!" This was immediately followed by two simultaneous "Dix!"
"What the...?" The leader and his men looked around the room, alarmed.
"Commencer." This was uttered by Noin.
"What are you people trying to play here?" The man in charge of the ambush inquired. "You better not be pulling any tricks. If you do, this fellow here will be the first to get it!"
As soon as he finished the sentence, Noin bumped hard into him with a thud, causing him to lose balance as well as his gun. The other team members quickly re-adjusted their aims to Noin, but before they could shoot, Duo shot them with special needles that he took out from his hair. Those that were further away, too, were put down by Heero and Wufei within a second.
From the time when Noin 'commenced' the operation to when the last man went down, a total of ten seconds passed by. The 'sept', 'neuf', and 'dix' were cues of when they would act. At the 7th second (sept) after the start of their stike (commencer), Noin bumped into the man. At the 9th (neuf) second, Duo hit the men targeting Noin. At the 10th (dix) second, Wufei and Heero took down the rest of the men.
When the threat was removed, most of the people in the room still had not reacted.
"Is it over?" Hilde blinked, eyeing the several bodies lying unconscious on the floor.
"Yup." Duo playfully messing with Hilde's hair.
"You guys can do the clean up. I think I need some...." Noin dropped to the ground before she was able to finish the sentence. Duo caught her in time to prevent her from hitting the floor.
"It must be the medication." Sally observed. "I am surprised he was able to stay awake for this long."
The front door and several windows were broken into by a squad of police at that moment, and they were stupified at the scence before them. Apparently, someone passing by the lodge saw Noin trying to sneak in the lodge and called the police with a cell phone. The Citizens' Guards, as the police are called in this region, came quickly enough after receiving the call, but they were only in time to clean up the chaos.
The sudden flashes from outside the windows told the people inside the arrival of news reporters. Pargen and the security team quickly dispatched the spectators, but not before a few photos were taken.
After all the commotions had died down and everyone taken cared of, the Prince and the top three guards, Heero, Duo, and Wufei, gathered in Miliardo's room. Duo dutifully explained the "French trick", as he called it, to the puzzled blond.
"That's a pretty neat stunt." Miliardo nodded. "How is it that all four of you know about it?"
"Well, it's like this." Duo said. "Me and Noin invented this game while undertaking the effort-requiring job of learning French when we were little. Then I taught Heero and Wufei how to play it when we were in high school. I didn't teach you this because we don't really play together, Zechs."
"I see." Zechs acknowledged. "It was a very close call. One little mistake and Noin would have been in serious trouble, since he wouldn't had been able to do much under heavy medication." He still couldn't help but shudder when he recalled the event earlier in the day.
"I told you Noin's a lot tougher than that!" Duo grinned proudly.
"Are you going to cancel the rest of the conference, Zechs?" Wufei asked.
"Yes." Zechs nodded. "Since only one of the candidates is actually interested in this, and she is definitely disqualified after what she did."
"Will King Peacecraft select another lady for you?" Heero asked.
"Most likely." Zechs sighed. "He might try to get me to meet the girl who couldn't make it to the conference. I wish I have a choice."
"You really don't have a girl that you like?" Duo pondered. "We can persuade your dad if you do."
"Unfortunately, no." Zechs answered, with image of Noin in his mind when he said so.
"Well, then, let's hope the fifth girl will turn out to be your type." Duo joked, trying to ease the misery of the Prince.
"Lucius, look! Isn't that Lucrezia?" A gracious lady gasped when she saw the news.
"It is her." King Eclair examined the news shot closely. "She looks terrible..."
The night of the incident, two people arrived at the front door of the lodge where the conference was held. The bride candidates were all sent home in the afternoon to calm them down from the day's events. Miliardo Peacecraft and Pargen were summoned by the King and were absent at the moment, and only the Princesses and the guards were still at the lodge.
"Hold it right there." Wufei stopped the pair of noble-looking people. "Who are you?"
Before the majestic figure answered, a sound crying out "Uncle, aunt!" was heard from behind. Wufei turned to see a shocked Duo.
"Duo." The pair greeted the braided young man with a smile. "Where is she?"
"Are you here to take her home?" Duo sighed. "Noin is doing so well out here, do you really have to do this?"
"Yes, Duo." King Eclair said. "Noin is, after all, the heir to Luce. I can't let her encounter any more such dangers. I hope you understand."
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Duo said resignedly. He signalled to the Chinese to lead them to Noin's room. He would miss her, so would many other people.
When Zechs returned the next morning, he was greeted with the news of Noin's departure with his parents the night before. The handsome young Prince was visibly disturbed, but there was nothing he could do. He did allow peril to come to Noin due to his own actions. At least he did not have to go through the bride conference anymore. But why was he feeling so empty?
