Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One!
Chapter Twelve
"A Simple Twist of Fate"
By Magic
Blam-o!
She didn't lift her head to see what or who had just gotten beaten severely as Hannah was having the time of her life as it was; she had decided after a great amount of musing that this was the first time in her life, as far as she knew, that she had been tied to a very large marble pillar with rope and duck tape. Her back itched, her mouth was completely dry for lack of her quenching ice water, and she was almost certain that the feeling in her left hand was never going to come back after this.
Even so, she had decided to make the best out of this grand first experience by removing herself from it. At first, there had been no way that she would have been able to do anything with the ropes, let alone the large slab of duct tape that covered the whole lower portion of her face, but after Trinity had begun untying her ropes for a few seconds before becoming distracted with the current situation that was playing before her very eyes, the ropes had been loosened a great deal. All that was left for Hannah was to use her former gymnastics training and squirm out of the bindings before anyone noticed what she was trying to do.
"Keep it coming," Hannah grumbled through the duct-tapyness as sister and step-brother were having some sort of verbal fight over whether or not the braided one was going to live or not. "Psycho boy over there just needs to be distracted for a little bit longe--," she removed her right hand from the ropes and swiftly tore the duct tape from her face, "holy cheese curds! That hurt!" Her blue eyes became a bit misty as the burning sensation spread across her face like a wind burn rash on a dry day in North Dakota.
"Talk about the biggest band-aid in the world..." She continued to mumble to herself as she stepped over the ropes and clenched her left hand which seemed to be coming back to life. This was always a good thing as she figured she would need it at a later date to severely beat Trinity with both her change sock and her silence glaive. There were only a couple of things that really irked her; among these were liars and the crusty, dry stuff on top of plastic milk cartons.
"Oh, so poetic!" Trinity's voice rang loudly throughout the large ballroom, and the blonde's head snapped to the side just in time to see her friend speed towards Psycho-Boy and clash swords with him. Time to get a move on! Hannah figured as she flew towards the nearest pillar and started undoing Quatre's bonds.
Her fingers couldn't seem to get a grip on the thick rope though as they shook from either A) lack of caffeine and/or other sugary substance or B) her fear that someone was going to walk in the door directly to her left any second and fill her with holes. She didn't exactly want to be a large, bloody pulp or a human in the form of Swiss cheese for that matter; Swiss cheese wasn't even one of the better kinds of cheese. Hannah forced herself to stop thinking about food at the moment, even though she knew it would come back to food eventually. Food always ran full circle.
After what seemed like an eternity, the ropes that wound around Quatre Winner's body fell to the floor, and he removed the duct tape from his own mouth without so much as a wince. "Help me undo the others as quick as possible." His eyes jumped from Trinity and Nadir, who had slowly made their way over towards the other side of the room, to the three pilots, who were still bound to the pillars. "I don't know if anyone is going to come in here and 'interrupt' us, but it would be better to move quickly and not find out either way."
Hannah nodded and silently followed the blonde pilot to where the other boys were attempting in vain to wiggle out of their bondage. She skid to a halt in front of Trowa and tore the duct tape from his mouth before moving on to the ropes the encircled him. "So," she inquired softly so just Trowa could hear her talking, "what are we going to do about Trinity?" Her normally all-smiles face was covered with the lines of worry. "Do you think she can beat Nadir herself?"
Silence was all she received from Trowa as an answer. Hannah figured that he didn't even know those answers himself. The ropes eventually dropped from his slim body, and pilot 03 stepped shakily away from the marble. Couldn't he have thought of a different way to immobilize us? I never in my life expected that as a Gundam pilot I would eventually be tied to a marble pillar. Beaten with a stick? Yes. Of course, but a marble pillar? Trowa only shook his head as he figured there were more screws loose in Nadir than most people had tightened in their heads.
"Hannah," Quatre got the blonde's attention as he started on Heero's bonds with help from Wufei, who was standing beside him. "You and Trowa-," the sound of breaking glass interrupted Quatre's commanding voice. For a second, a flash of panic could be seen in Quatre's eyes, but he covered it up as quickly as it had came. "You and Trowa go check on Duo and bring him back over here." Quatre's hands continued to fumble with the ropes as Trowa pulled Hannah along with him onto the main part of the ballroom floor.
As Hannah approached Duo's still body, she began to wonder what had happened while she had been trying to get out of the ropes. Blood trickled from his mouth and a large gash above his left eyebrow onto the marble floor and pooled there on the cold stone. His breath was jagged and came in gasps instead of a steady rhythm; the site didn't get any prettier as they got closer to him.
Trowa leaned down and placed two of his fingers across Duo's neck as he checked for his pulse. Hannah found herself standing a few feet farther away as if she was afraid of being to close to Duo's bruised body.
"His pulse is regular and strong," Trowa declared as he flipped his fellow pilot carefully over onto his back. He really does look awful. Nadir took everything out on him. He glanced up to Hannah and realized the blonde girl was shaking. I wish there was something I could say to her, but there is nothing that can lighten the situation at the moment. The magic haired pilot lifted Duo Maxwell up off the ground as delicately as he possibly could and approached the blonde silently. Unless, Trowa thought to himself, I start tap dancing, but we don't have to worry about that as it isn't an option.
It was only a few seconds before Hannah informed to her friend with the magic bangs what had gotten her so shaken up. "Trinity. She's no longer in here." Her light blue eyes looked up into Trowa's green ones. "Where are Trinity and Nadir? What has he done with my friend?!" Hannah's nerves had reached the breaking point; her voice came out shaky and came out in uncontrollable pitches that even an opera singer couldn't have hit.
"Trowa!" Quatre's voice yelled from where Heero and Wufei were standing, their ropes removed. Trowa's head as well as Hannah's turned in the direction of the voice. "You take Hannah and Duo to the garage and try to find some vehicle that can get us out of here safely. Heero, Wufei, and I are going to go after Trinity and Nadir."
"Don't you think this is something that Trinity and Nadir should work out for themselves?" Wufei argued only half heartedly. He didn't even seem to believe his own words as his face turned towards the floor.
Heero glanced towards the Chinese pilot and gave him a piercing gaze that even those closest to him couldn't quite get used to, "Is that really what you're thinking, Wufei? Leave her here and just escape without her?" He began walking towards the door where he had last seen Nadir's soldier's exit. What's the fun in that? Heero thought to himself as he pulled the wooden door open to reveille a lone soldier standing there; Heero's foot contacted with the soldier's chin even before he even realized that someone had opened the door.
Heero began to rummage through the soldier's pockets, throwing towards the others anything that he could find useful. "If that's how you feel, then you should go with Trowa and leave me and Quatre to running after Trinity." Heero stood up and faced the rest of them with a loaded machine gun in his hands. "You of all people should be able to see the," Heero's lips pursed into a small smirk, "injustice that is going on here." He kicked the hand gun he had found in one of the soldier's pockets towards Wufei's feet.
The black haired youth bent down and picked up the gun; without looking, he removed the safety from it and turned his back to the others. "If we're going, let's get going. I don't believe that she can last long against Nadir."
Hannah started off at the pilot, her patience with his womanizing completely gone for the moment. "Just because she's female doesn't mean that you can assume tha-"
Wufei's black eyes turned towards her in defense, and he stated clearly, "I don't think that it's her being a girl that will cause her to loose. I was speaking, rather, of how she probably finds it very hard to fight one of her family, especially after everything that has happened to her." He paused for a moment as if contemplating something. "Though, I'm sure her being a woman doesn't help in the least bit."
Quatre found it in himself to smile lightly and started towards the elevator with a wave to the others to follow. "Good luck, Trowa, Hannah. We'll see you in the garage." He waved to them as he and the other two designated pilots entered the grey elevator on their way towards the ground floor.
***
Her glazed eyes didn't see what she was staring at ahead of her; her lungs didn't seem to grasp the oxygen that she was rapidly taking in as her body was raked with gasps; her mind wasn't playing in the present at the moment. It has back once again back five minutes in the past when she had first lunged at her step-brother.
"Oh, so poetic!" She had screamed at him as her feet kicked off from the ground; her body slammed into his full force, knocking him back a few feet as he was off guard to the blow with had come so suddenly. It wasn't long though before he had regained his poise and his sword rang against hers; the sound resonated throughout the large hall as the two both became locked into the same stance.
They both pushed away with all their strength in sync, and both rushed back, hitting their swords together once more. It was as if they moved in complete unison, and if someone had been watching, it would have looked like some sort of odd dance that was being preformed for them. They had both practiced under the same teacher, and they had both fought against each other many times when they had been younger. Both new what was coming from the other one as much as a single person knows their own thoughts that run through their mind.
His sword slammed down onto hers just as she brought hers up in front of her face to deflect the blow. The blow rang painfully through her arm muscles and into her shoulder as she bent down against the force of the hit. She couldn't seem to find the strength in her arms any longer to push him back after he attacked, so she did what she found to be most logical in her position: she kicked him viciously in the shin.
Even though it didn't quite stand up to code when dueling with someone, Trinity got her wanted effect which was a distraction long enough for her to get the upper hand. She flung her sword against his with all of her might, and since Nadir's grip had lessened slightly on his hilt, his weapon went flying out of his grasp and skid to a halt on the floor a couple of feet away.
As her anger for her step-brother clouded her thinking, she thrust her sword straight down at his head. Normally, that would have rendered the killing blow for anyone else, but in her rage, the brunette had left it out of her current thoughts that Nadir had always loved that stroke because he could defend himself against it.
Nadir caught the blade effortlessly between his two hands, each against the flat side, and Trinity was stuck with her sword grasped tightly by Nadir. Her eyes widened in fear as he gazed at her from behind the sword.
"You don't remember," he said. "You couldn't remember that simple little trick that I knew. Not even when your life depended on it."
Trinity tried to pull her sword away from his grasp, but it didn't budge an inch.
Nadir's eyes became wild with anger and his voice seemed to hiss out from behind his clenched teeth. "You would have killed me just like that, hmmm? No thoughts on the subject?! Why didn't you THINK about it first?!? YOU MISSED!!"
His hand swiftly reached into the depths of his blue uniform and removed an object that Trinity hardly had a chance to see at first. It was rather that she felt it before she realized what the thing was. Pain seared through her thigh as Nadir's dagger dug deep into her unprotected flesh, right into the muscle.
She wanted to scream out in pain, but not a sound came out from her open mouth as she bent a little over and let go of her sword. Trinity staggered a back a few steps as she tried to get away from her crazed brother, but there was no escaping the enraged Nadir as he took a hold of her shirt and lifted her off the ground.
The look he gave her made her want to vomit; she felt her insides twist within her as his hatred seemed to flow into her veins. He pulled her up so high as she was almost looking down at him from up above, and his grip changed so that he was now holding her viciously by the neck.
Suddenly for a split second, the hatred in his eyes disappeared, but it was quickly covered by the look of great pain, and Nadir's free hand went to his head. "You make me sick." The blonde soldier replied softly, his voice caked with danger. Trinity couldn't say anything as her throat was cut off by Nadir's hand wrapped tightly around her neck. She struggled against his grip, but to no avail; her world was becoming darker as she needed oxygen to fill her lungs once again.
His hold on her tightened for a quick second before he declared, "Get out of my sight."
It was Trinity's first time a flying, but that is generally what she was doing for a few seconds. Flying towards the stained glass window where Nadir had flung her. It was quite enjoyable for those two seconds before her body came in contact with the window, causing it to shatter all around her; that was probably the least enjoyable part for her as the aftermath wasn't so bad. The falling didn't worry her too much as she could at least breath a few raged gasps in and out before she figured she would hit the pavement with a deafening crunch.
Rather than a crunch, her body jolted as she sunk into chilly water; her dark brown eyes snapped open as she sunk to the bottom of the five foot fountain and scrapped her elbows on the mosaic tiles. First, the realization that she was still alive came to her, next was the hunger for oxygen that her lungs screamed for as they burned within her chest. Her feet swiftly found the slippery glass floor, and Trinity stood up quickly, her head breaking the surface as water flew everywhere.
A phenomena took place though; even though she was out of the water, the liquid continued to pelt itself at her face. After taking a step to the right, she realized that it was in fact the angel fountain that she had been flung into, and the angel statue before her was 'spitting' onto her head. It figured. Even the angels mocked her.
She stood there for a few seconds, filling her lungs with the frigid air before the feeling that someone was watching her came to her attention. Her eyes slowly scanned up the side of the mansion before they came to the window where she had just flown from; Nadir was leaning out amongst the remaining glass from the window, eyes widen, gazing down at her.
Trinity felt her heart begin to pound and all sense left her body when Nadir's form pulled away from the window. She watched his shadow move quickly past the other windows of the ballroom. He's coming after me. He's probably in the elevator by now, sword in hand, swearing to himself for picking the wrong window to chuck me out of, Trinity thought in a remarkably calm way.
"He'll be here any minute now," her voice seemed small as it almost blended in completely with the night sounds around her.
'Any minute now' echoed through her body, and Trinity flung herself over the edge of the fountain and rolled out onto the pavement. She smashed the flowers in the garden under her as she staggered to her feet, only to fall down to one knee.
"Shit," she swore as she grasped the dagger that remained in her thigh with her right hand and tore it from her right leg. The wound burned as she stood up once again and began to limp her way frantically towards the french doors that stood in front of her. What little sense was left in her panic stricken brain told her that she didn't have a chance hiding in the wide open garden; her best bet was to get into the house and find some random room where she could just hide behind some chair.
"Why now, why now, shit, damn it," she kept repeating as she grabbed the doorknobs and tried to yank the door open with all of her strength, but it didn't budge a bit. Without a thought, she shattered the glass near the handle with the hilt of the dagger and reached her hand inside through the hole she had made. Her fingers slipped around the lock for a second as she released the clamp. She turned the handle and slung open the door quietly.
The glass door creaked eerily as she pushed it slowly open; the hallway was dark and motionless when she stepped into it. She decided to wait a second, completely still, to see if she could hear anything, but nothing came to her eyes besides the sound of her own rapid breathing and water from her clothing dripping onto the tile floor.
Plop.
Plop. Plop.
Trinity forced her body to move down the hall to the left as fast as she possibly could. This way was moving away from the elevator that Nadir was going to have to use to get down to that floor. "Why can't he just leave me alone," she mumbled through purple lips as she hobbled farther down the long hallway, taking her time to make sure that none of his lackey's where down this way.
Her heart skipped a beat as she heard a squeaking noise on the tile. She looked down through her mangled, wet hair at her shoes which were 'speaking' as their wet soles came in contact with the floor. In a motion that was completely void of any grace, she flung herself to the side of the hallway behind a statue of armor where she sat and began removing her shoes.
Trinity blinked and her glazed over eyes lost their cloudiness. Her cold fingers were clutching the backs of her left shoe; she was sitting on the marble floor. How long have I been sitting here?! Trinity didn't have any recollection of the time she must have spent going through the recent events while sitting there on the floor. It couldn't have been too long though as the puddle of water that was growing underneath her hadn't gotten too large, but any time at all wasted was costly.
"Where is he?" Trinity whispered under her breath as she removed her shoes from her feet. A morbid thought crossed her mind and her adrenaline kicked in full boost. "What if he isn't coming after me? What if he went after Hannah? Or the guys?" Her heart pounded loudly in her ears as she pushed herself into a standing position, using the wall was support.
"It would be my fault," she muttered without registering that she had said it out loud. It was all she could do to keep herself from running back towards the ballroom screaming like a banshee after a pint of beer.
After making sure that her feet were planted firmly in place and that she wasn't going to do any shouting, Trinity started her way slowly down the path she had started. First, she dropped one of her shoes onto the hallway floor; around fifty feet later, the other one followed as well.
"I'll just leave him a trail of bread to follow, so he comes after me instead," Trinity conversed with herself. She wasn't sure whether it was the loss of blood or the shock from her current situation, but she didn't find conversing with herself to be anything odd at all. In fact, she began to wonder why she had not tried to do so earlier in her life.
"It's not like it's really bread," she reminded herself.
She seemed to scoff at herself, "Like I don't know that! It's shoes for crying out loud. I think I'd recognize a shoe from a piece of bread."
"Well, I was just checking," Trinity said sarcastically. "It wouldn't be the first stupid mistake that you've made in your life. Let alone today."
"I know, I know! You don't have to remind me about what's going-OUCH!" Her right leg had chosen that very moment to remind her that she still had a very large gash in it. Her eyes glanced down at her battered leg to see blood mixed with fountain water flowing down it and onto her footprints. She had been leaving a trail of crimson water ever since she had walked in through the door.
She felt stupid for not realizing it sooner and growled, "I didn't even have to leave the bread behind for him to follow."
"Shoes!"
"Whatever!! They're both wonderful and shiny!!"
Trinity was certain that now Nadir could be positive of her position in the house, let alone the universe. "Yeah, that's right, just keep coming you psycho, bad breathed, fashion senseless, bastard! I'm...I'm..." her vision was starting to blur from the loss of blood as well as the pain which seemed to have taken over her whole right side, "ready for ya...kinda." She opened the door in front of her and stepped into the large living room.
"Who are you kidding, Trinity?" She asked herself as she scanned the room. "You couldn't beat even Duo at the moment if he was blind folded, tequila drunk, and had all of his limps tied behind his back."
There wasn't anything in the room that could have helped her out of her predicament. It contained the usual things one would expect to find in a completely average living room. The silvery outlines of a couch, two chairs and a coffee table could be seen illuminated from the lights the shimmered out of the large windows that surrounded most of the room. Metal stairs up to a small, second floor library could be seen spiraling upwards to the balcony like overhang.
Her lips moved slightly as she murmured, "It's like being in a nightmare." She ripped the lower half of her shirt off to bind her leg with as she continued. "One of the ones where no matter how fast you run or where you go," she wrapped the black piece of fabric tightly around her thigh with a wince, hoping it would do a little good in stopping the blood which still ran down her leg in thin little streams, "you can never run fast enough or get away to safety."
She shut the door so that she could at least be warned when Nadir was entering and limped over to the far corner and slid down the wall into a squatting position behind one of the chairs on the farthest corner from the door. It was all that she could do to force herself to sit there and wait for her step-brother to arrive.
Trinity wanted a band-aid. Badly.
***
The magic haired pilot of 03 swung tightly around the corner as the trio, which was more like a duo as pilot 02 wasn't currently with them to say the least, flew towards what they hoped to be the garage. Hannah followed suit, but her corner wasn't as tight as her friends. She ended up skidding all the way across the hallway and collided with a suit of armor on the other side.
Among the crashes and scraping noises that sounded when the armor hit the floor, Hannah yelled after the magic haired one, "I'm all right!"
Trowa glanced back to make sure that she wasn't too far behind. He gave her a small nod and went on ahead to make sure that no lackeys were there to hinder their passage. The walls passed quickly beside him as his and Hannah's footsteps echoed down the dark corridor. A door came up at the end of the hallway and they both quickly whooshed into the grande room as their feet slid across the floor. It was yellow with massive amounts of white furniture, the kind you would find in a place comme Versailles. White draperies were suspended from the ceiling with the help of ornate rods to cover the full-size bay window. The finishing touch to the room seemed to be the mahogany door (which was very pretty, by the way) offset by a gigantic pillar.
Outlined by the lights of the city was the visage of one of Nadir's henchman. The pilot shoved Hannah behind him right before the room erupted in heat and noise; the bay window shattered with the force as the grenade went off against the wall. The fancy curtains quickly went up in flames, and the furniture didn't seem to hold up well either as it was in bits and pieces all around the room.
While the dust was settling, Trowa leaned over towards Hannah and slid Duo off of his shoulder. "Prop him up somewhere for a moment." The blonde took the pilot gingerly by the shoulders and pulled him next to the door where she propped him up. She turned her blue eyes back towards her fellow friend as he dashed into the smoke and debris towards the soldier.
The fire smoldered over on the other side of the room as it ate up all of the oxygen. Hannah covered her mouth and nose with her sleeve and opened the door up a little bit so that Duo could get some fresh air as well. "Now, don't even think about walking out that door without me. It's not nice. And besides, you're injured." Had Duo been conscious, a wave of deja vu would have flowed over him.
By that time, Trowa had reached the loan soldier, who was vigorously rummaging through his pockets for a pistol but wasn't having any luck. As his adversary approached, the lackey hit a defensive stance, but that wasn't going to do him any good. (But at least he THOUGHT so.) The best he could do is take it like a man. He was lucky enough to dodge the pilot's first punch (notice how it just says 'first punch'.) The second and third hit him square in the jaw, but the best was yet to come. As the coup de grace, Trowa let out a high kick which landed right on the man's jaw, shattering it. When the soldier's head snapped back from the force, a sound like when a walnut's shell is cracked rang out as his neck broke as his body sailed up in a arc and landed in a crumpled mass on the hard floor, bouncing once, then twice, over the tiles. Arms and legs were everywhere as the soldier landed in a heap against the wall.
Hannah was just about to start applauding when her ears perked up. Something in the room sounded not right; she glanced over towards the pillar to the side of her friend which was teetering dangerously out of position. That's never good, Hannah mused as she took off towards her magic banged ami. In her patented hip check, the blonde rammed her bony hip of doom into Trowa's upper leg, sending her friend skidding out of dangers way.
Unfortunately, her own reflexes when concerned with her own well being were lacking slightly, and she couldn't get out of the pillars way before it collapsed directly on top of her. It could have been Trowa's imagination or maybe it really happened, but he could swear that he heard Hannah grumble, "Damn it" from under the pile of plaster.
Trowa leaned next to the crumbling pillar and began removing white pieces off of Hannah's unconscious body which lay sprawled out on the floor. His dark green eyes scanned her body as he dusted the remaining flecks of white stuff. He brushed her blonde hair out of her face as it was gathering blood which was trickling out of a large gash across her forehead. From the looks of its odd position, her left arm was broken in possibly more than one place as well.
Gingerly, he plucked her body out from the rubble and turned towards his fellow pilot who by this time had slumped down to the ground, but at least he had fresh air coming in from the doorway. So, how exactly is this going to work? Trowa wondered as the flames in the room became larger. He figured that there wasn't enough time to pull a McGuiver while the fire was slowly devouring the furniture.
He situated Hannah on his back as if he was giving her a piggy-back ride and leaned forward so she wouldn't fall off backwards as he carried Duo slung across his arms, braid dangling over the edge. The going was slow, but at least they were off and going again, even if there was only one of them left standing by the time they hit the garage. It was all good.
***
A large 'boom' sounded down the halls and Quatre glanced worriedly towards Heero and Wufei who were running along beside him. "I hope our friends are okay."
"We have ourselves to worry about right now, Quatre. Keep your eyes ahead," Wufei growled as they turned another corner.
The soldiers seemed to be closing in on them from all sides as if they had been waiting for them to leave the safety of the ballroom, and the guys weren't exactly thrilled with that idea. The first of the lackey's jumped out from one of the random doorways and into the hallway; before he could do much damage, Heero's machine gun had gone off. The bullets riddle his body and made him move around like a puppet before collapsing to the floor with a sickening thud.
"One down," spandex boy declared as they entered the main hall.
The three glanced around to get their bearings and quickly realized that they were screwed. Apart from the large, sparkly chandelier that hung from the ceiling, the only other remarkable feature of the room was the many doors that riddled the walls. The trio halted in the center of the room as soldiers began flowing in through all of the doors that surrounded the room as well as down the stairs.
Quatre sighed and told Heero over his shoulder, "You have a couple left."
Heero responded with a grunt. "Yeah."
Their shoulders pressed up against each other as they were pressed into a small circle as the soldiers gathered around them, gun raised. They were hungry. There didn't seem to be much that the others could do at the moment except glance over at Quatre.
The platinum blonde glanced from one to the other and gave 'the nod'.
Whoosh! They were in action. Wufei broke the circle by flying over the other soldiers in an acrobatic feat, surprising some and making others wet themselves. But they didn't have to worry about their soiled undergarments for long because soon their brains were plastered to the ground.
Heero held a machine gun in his hands; what else do you need to know? Limbs and arms went soaring through the air as the empty cartridges clanked on the floor. Blood and internal organs were also added to the mixture in large amounts. Before long, he was going to have to find another weapon as the shells were quickly being used up.
The brains of the operation was busying himself trying not to die. The poor boy was a strategist and this thing just wasn't his strong point. He figured that if he could find some sort of opening in the sea of soldiers that he could pick up some sort of weapon to protect himself with. A tiny crack in the wave opened for a spilt second as the lackey's pushed closer to Wufei, and Quatre dived for it like Trinity flings herself towards the fridge after grocery day. As he ran, he bent down to snatch a gun from the floor and took off towards the outside of the circle.
His feet pounding quickly on the marble, Quatre slid into the closest doorway and surveyed the scene from a spectators position. It almost seemed like they were winning what had looked like a perfectly hopeless battle; what had been three versus fifty or so soldiers, had now dwindled to the pilots against but a handful of adversaries.
How was the possible though? Had their speculation on victory caused their ultimate defeat? Did they believe in their skills to the point where their egos clouded their vision?
It was possible. Anything in life was possible, but Quatre's thoughts centered more around another alternative to the ease with which they were escaping this situation. It was a thought that made bile rise up in the blonde's throat: these weren't trained soldiers at all. Probably the sons of well-to-do families sent out at their parents wishes to earn a heroic name for the family, and they had come here to be slaughtered.
His thoughts were broken by the sharp pain that cursed through his right leg, and his light blue eyes gazed around the room and landed on the soldier that had his gun trained on him. He had been foolish to allow his thoughts to wander as he stood out in the open. Quatre slowly raised his hands above his head after realizing that if this young man had really wanted to kill him, he would already be dead.
The youth's eyes shown with the insanity of battle and his hands shook fiercely as he tried to hold his weapon even with his enemy. Just pull the trigger. Just get this over with! The soldier screamed at himself in his head as his dark green eyes met the eyes of the blonde in front of him.
It was only one quick glance from his adversary that made the pilot realize that someone was standing right behind him. His eyes widened as he attempted to pull the trigger, but his hands were no longer under his control. The floor was coming up to meet him as he felt the crushing blow to his neck, and his thoughts ran away from the room. Swiftly they flew, to his friends, to his family as they raced against time to embody his life in those last seconds before his emerald eyes sunk shut.
Heero stood in the area where the soldier had stood just seconds before; he gazed right over the body at his fellow pilot across the room and nodded towards the doorway. "Now would be the best time to make out exit."
Quatre removed his eyes from the soldier's body and his body began to move without him commanding him to do so. A shoulder suddenly supported him from the right as he limped towards the doorway and across the crimson tiles; he turned his head only slightly to nod a thanks to Wufei before Heero's shoulder also aided his walk.
"He was too scared to pull the trigger." Quatre's voice sounded weak in the large room as the three moved along as one down to where they hoped they'd find their friend before her step-brother.
"Then he shouldn't have been on the battle field at all," Wufei growled, but his words lacked their usual cut.
***
Her meek voice sounded dull and raspy in the well furnished room as her eyes traced the lines of the couch in the dim light that slide in through the windows from the city. She was humming some little tune that she had heard somewhere before, but couldn't quite place it's name firmly in her head. Her parched throat made the sounds come out hoarse and shallow.
The corners of her mouth lifted slightly as she realized what she was doing; her step-brother would probably walk through the door before her at any moment, and yet she was humming. And very out of tune at that.
Perhaps I have gone insane, Trinity mused as she fiddled with the dagger that rested heavily in her hands. Her fingers traced it's sharpened edge idly as she awaited Nadir's inevitable appearance. I don't think I would mind so much. Being insane that is.
"It could be a welcomed adventure," she whispered dryly to herself. "I'm sure Nadir wouldn't mind if I followed in his footsteps." She laughed uncontrollably to herself in the corner of the dark room and was certain that her last nerve had been shot.
"Did you get out Hannah?" She inquired to the shadows. "Did Duo's nose heal crooked? Does Heero still glare at everyone, or has he quite that habit?" She could feel herself slowly straighten up into a standing position.
She swayed for a moment, but steadied herself against the cold wall. "Has Quatre quit taking his afternoon tea every Sunday? Or does he still continue that? And when will Trowa buy a better fitting pair of pants?" Somehow, something inside of her was telling her to hold on; to at least attempt to find out the answers to these questions, but something deeper than that was pulling her towards the doorway where the light had suddenly increased from the hallway.
In it's wake stood a silhouette that gazed around the room inquiringly before stepping in and raising what seemed to be a very long stick. Trinity understood. No one carried around sticks. At least not cracked up step-brothers.
"When will Wufei realize that no matter how hard he tries, Hannah will always best him in any argument?"
The figure turned towards the sound of her voice and lashed out into the darkness, but Trinity lightly skipped out of the way.
"When will the war end?"
"The war will never end, Trinity. There is no use fighting out against something that man will continue for years after your death."
Nadir's eyes had not yet adjusted to the darkness, and he was blindly sweeping his sword through the air while Trinity made her way quietly over towards his back side. Her whole body was covered in goosebumps and her mind refuse to yet grasp reality.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Because this is the path that I have been ordered upon by fate." He turned again to face her in the darkness and oddly enough lowered his sword for just a second as if waiting for her to speak once again.
"Why do you believe in fate?"
The sword raised again and he advanced on the brunette, his eyes vaguely making out her form in the blackness of the room. Trinity made sure to keep the distance between her and Nadir large enough for a semi to pass through.
"Because there is nothing else in this world to believe in." With that he lunged at her, but she was already out of his way and behind the sofa. "Can you tell me that you seriously believe in life? What is there to put our faith in? Love?" A cold laugh escaped his mouth. "I have already seen that there is no love in this world. Not between siblings. Not between friends. Not between father's and their children." His voice seemed to falter and a sob sounded from his chest. "If only you could see it, Trinity. The hate that I have seen...the blood that I have seen spilled. You would understand that there is nothing left to believe in but fate. Fate that we will all die one day."
Nadir's eyes glazed over and for a second his thoughts became jumbled up in his mind as if he was breaking off into two entirely different people. He couldn't remember where he was, or what he was doing except that he had one goal in mind: to end it. To end it all. But the two different people inside of him called for different endings. Which one was the real goal he longed for?
Trinity was now certain of it. The noise that she heard from Nadir's direction had actually been a cry. For some unknown reason, her step-brother had almost begun to cry in this dark room. She felt her strength leave her and doubt rose up inside of her. Would she actually be able to even try to kill him? Her heart rate sky rocketed, and she found herself rapidly backing away from her kin.
In her haste to get away from him, she knocked over the lamp that sat on the wooden table to her right. Glass flew all about as the crash resounded in the silence of the room. Nadir's daze was broken and his head filled with a sharp pain. His mind chose one goal and with that one obsessive thought, he dashed towards Trinity, sword in hand.
The brunette would never be able to remember what exactly happened within those two seconds that Nadir came flying after her, but the next thing she could remember was the thunk of his sword landing on the soft carpet and his gasp as he glanced down towards where the dagger lay embedded in his stomach. The feeling of his warm blood on her hands; the sound of his ragged breath; the taste of her own tears in her mouth. All that was clear in her mind. As were his words.
"Why do you give me--such a headache?" Gasps for air in the midst of blinding pain broke his usually flowing speech.
"Isn't that what little sisters are for?" Trinity whispered. Her mind was telling her to move, to run quickly from the room, but her body stayed where she stood. She could feel Nadir leaning against her and even smell the sweat that covered his body. It if had been under different circumstances, she would have told him to go take a shower. That he smelt. That his deodorant wasn't working in the slightest.
He chest moved in a jumping motion, and Trinity realized that he was laughing. She found herself listening to the sound and found no malice in its ring. His hand moved from his side and rested on her dark haired head, lightly, as if she was a small child.
Nadir moved his dark blue eyes to survey his little step-sister and for once found his thoughts clear and concise. So that was what had happened. That was what was going on. Oh, the things he had to tell her about this war. What was happening and what may happen very soon.
"Trinity -- " It was then when he saw the small, red dot move over her chest.
It's crazy how fast you can make a decision, Nadir thought as the pain seared through his chest and he felt as if he was being ripped from his body, how funny that a few seconds ago I was trying to kill her, and then I leaned right in front of that sniper's bullet. How funny.
How ironically hilarious.
Nadir's dead weight rested on Trinity's shoulder as her brown eyes opened widely. What had just happened? Why was her face covered in blood? What had Nadir done? "Nadir?" She collapsed under his weight and found herself on the floor lying under his body.
"Nadir?!" She shoved him off of her and flipped his body over so she could look at his face.
"NADIR!?" She slapped him viciously across the face and shook his body roughly. The tears now slid down her face without control as she screamed his name over and over again in the darkness of the room.
It wasn't until firm hands gripped her shoulders and pulled her to her feet from behind that she noticed other people had entered the room. Three other people in fact. She was looking in the familiar face of Heero Yuy, but her mind wasn't grasping what was going on. Trinity pushed him away from her in a panic and took several steps back.
"Get the hell away from me! Don't touch me!"
"Trinity..." The blonde in the room mumbled. His voice was drenched with pity and sadness.
The one that had tried to grab her, again made another move for her, this time more forcefully. "We have to get out of here right now, Trinity. Hannah and Trowa are waiting for us."
"Hannah..." A small spark of recognition danced across her eyes, but it was quickly covered as the brunette started to scream hysterically as she kicked and fought against her captors hold. Her fingernails dug deeply into his flesh, but his grip didn't let up as he pulled her closer to him in an attempt to calm her.
"My family!" Trinity managed to free one of her hands and she reached towards the still form on the ground. "Nadir!!"
"They're dead." Another voice in the room sounded out to the hysterical girl.
"NooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOO!!" She shrieked, but Heero now had a better grip on her. Two more arms encircled her from behind, and Trinity found herself being held almost completely still by the forceful embrace that she had been forced into.
"It'll be alright. We're going to get you away from here."
"Quatre." Trinity choked as she went limp in the blonde's arms. "I'm sorry, Heero," she declared through her sobs as she rested her head on his shoulder. As her tears dripped slowly down the pilot's shoulder, Quatre slowly removed his arms from the young girl. "I'm sorry."
All three of the pilots understood that her last words were not intended for anyone in the room that could hear them at that moment. As quickly as they had came, the three exited the room and pulled the fourth party along with them.
***
"Are you sure that you want to do something like this?" The middle aged man sat behind the desk, cigar held loosely between his fingertips as he assessed the young girl that sat in front of him. "You are, though most wouldn't believe it, the commander of the army whose war has just begun. Are you sure you want to chance your war on this?" He nibbled the end of his cigar. It wasn't a nervous motion, but rather one that he did often when he was annoyed with something. "Nadir isn't coming back."
"I'm not a child. I understand what death is." The girl's mouth curved into a cruel smile as she stood up from the chair where she sat in front of the man, her long brown hair shifting slightly with her movement.
"And yet you're still going to go after her?" The elder man's voice held something that could be likened to amusement in it, but he covered it enough so that no one in the room would really be able to distinguish it from his normal drawl. "Nadir made that mistake."
"Deep down Nadir really went after her to die. He proved that when he leaned in front of my bullet." The youth purposefully leaned on the man's table and got in his face. "I will have my revenge." With that she spun on her heels and stormed out of the room, a pair of her personal guards following at her heels like whipped dogs.
The man sat for a moment and contemplated what had just taken place. Then he smiled and started to laugh. "Do as you wish. This is 'your' war after all." People never did cease to amuse him. He leaned forward in his large desk and pressed one of the buttons on the phone.
"Yes. This is he." He paused for a second as he listened to the other respond to the information. "Yes. I want you to follow her. Keep me posted on whatever happens. Huh? Assassinate her? No, no. She's the commander of the army. Yes. Nadir did work under her. No. That wont be necessary. Yes, just a simple spy will do nicely. Keep me posted on the pilots as well. What? Yes. All five of them. Mmm-hmm. Keep a close eye on the blonde too. What's her name again? Yes, that's it. Hannah Date. Interfere with the commanders plans? No. Let her do as she wishes. No. And, while you're at it, order me some Chinese. Yes, the usual. And don't forget extra fortune cookies this time. You can be replaced you know."