Plura Ater Nox
Chapter 28

She was growing restless; she needed something to do besides head part of the German Army. Aimée wanted to go in the same direction as Angelique. She wanted to rack down the stray woman and kill her. That would be quite fulfilling.

Sighing, she begun to pace, she stopped.

She smirked. She felt a chi flare, a strong chi.

'Nakago. You're close, I can feel it. You're also where I want to be in order to infiltrate. How kind of you to give away your location.'

Standing up, Aimée smoothed down her skirt and pushed loose bangs from her face as she left the communications room she used to use when she made contact with the White Rose. She remembered when she spoke to "Plant Guardian" that at the time she felt differently and had a different cause.

Now was a new time. She had a new cause.

Knocking on the door of her secret lover, she wandered in. "Johann?"

"Yes, you may enter." He replied dryly. He knew that she had given up on waiting for his permission to enter. He didn't even bother to chide her on that any more. He did love her, so he didn't mind that she felt no apprehension in coming to see.

"You so sound happy." She whispered sarcastically, as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"Okay, what do you want?"

"What makes you think I want anything?"

"You're usually more aloof, not so forward. I have to entice you."

"Hmn…" Aimée nodded.

"Okay, so do tell…" the German lieutenant prompted. "What exactly to do want?"

"Very well. You said you didn't want me going over on a spy mission to track down that girl and other related issues. But I picked up a distinct chi." She began.

"I thought you knew I cared about you and that you had given up on him?!" Johann replied sharply, grabbing Aimée's hands tightly in his. His golden eyes were narrowed, filled with a hint of hurt mixed with conviction. "I thought you had given up on him? Don't you remember all the hurt he caused you? When he confessed his love to Seiryuu no Miko? That he hurt us both? Do you want the same kind of emotional trauma?"

He pulled her closer, his voice a whisper. "Answer that for me."

She swallowed deeply, listening to his words. She gazed away as tears filled her grey eyes, threatening to fall. She didn't want to look him in the eyes, as a tidal wave of memories crashed down onto her conscious mind. It hurt; it hurt now as much as it did then. The pain seemed to be fresh even though it was ancient.

"You…you're right." Aimée whispered her voice cracking. She didn't feel she was able to look at the man now. She was wrought over old emotions and her past. She didn't know what to make of the present.

"You're crying." Johann remarked, as he touched his hand, taking the moisture that fell from her eyes onto his finger. "It's because you're remembering what he did to you? How he hurt you after deceiving you? He deceived you with smooth promises, his swift actions. He betrayed you cruelly, using you for his own means."

He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "Sorry I had to remind you of this, but I don't want you to get any ideas that he might for some reason love you."

Lifting her hand, she wiped her tears away. "I still want to seek it out, I felt more than his chi there, and I felt that of the Suzaku Seishi, as well as the girl that escaped us. I want to go over and deceive them and lure them into your trap."

"I shouldn't have doubted your motives." He kissed her again. "I just wanted to protect you."

"I know."

"Go on, get ready. Call in before you land, that way my men will hold their fire until you are out of range. I don't want you to get injured, or hurt."

Nodding, she lifted her hand, running her fingers through the silkiness that was Johann's hair. She sighed, as she stared into his golden eyes. "I won't disappoint you."

"I can count on you. Even before when we were at odds, you were always reliable when it came to getting the task done. Even Nakago was not as reliable, his methods were too indirect."

~~~~

Aimée was stilled attired in the uniform she had been given when she defected to the other side, swearing her loyalty to the enemy of the country of France and her allies. She planned to remove it before she landed in Ireland. For the moment she left it on in order to delegate authority over the merchants. She had enough knowledge to know who was bilingual and who wasn't.

She planned to seek out one who spoke only French. That way she couldn't be turned into to British authorities when she docked in Dublin. Her accent also helped her. She grew up in Paris with her family, who were pure in blood. However, her father hadn't been born in France and had been raised in Canada, speaking English and passable French.

Her father had been conscripted into the King's Army during the First World War, and had been sent over with others to fight in the trenches in France. He had been injured at Passchendaele. When he was taken to the Red Cross tent, he had been treated by a soft-spoken French girl, who he fell in love with. Instead of taking her back with him, her father had remained in France and moved to Paris with his fiancé.

Hence, as a child, like her six siblings, she was exposed to both languages. So, it seems that she would have the chance to use such skills.

Pushing her shoulders back, she confidently walked up to the merchant tending his vessel. She tapped him on the shoulder. "You are going to escort me to Dublin, no questions ask. If there is any sign of mutiny, you will be summarily punished."

The merchant stared in horror at the woman and nodded numbly.

He feared for his life. He had a family and didn't want to bring any trouble unto them.

Hence, he complied very willingly and escorted her to the Dublin ports. He was too scared to watch her when she left, thus, he had no knowledge that she was really a French civilian and had changed back into her street clothes.

Smiling to herself, Aimée made her way out of the docks and into the city of Dublin.

'I can still feel your chi, Nakago…and those of the others.'

Now it would be only a matter of time before she lured him and his allies into a trap that they couldn't get out of – they would die at her hand.

~~~~~

Pacing through the hallways of the planning room and central command outside of London, the blond captain ran his fingers through his hair. He couldn't shake Angelique's words of doom from his mind. Once he calmed down, he had only a moment of repose before she added that it was her belief that the pair indeed was involved deeply.

'This is hardly fair. I swear, by my hand, when I find him, I will kill him!' Captain Andreas vowed solemnly as he decided to once again get out for fresh air. Now he would do so while off duty. When he and Stonewall had found the stray Jew, they had been on regulation duty.

Leaving the outpost in Dublin, he decided to walk around. Maybe he could wet his whistle, which would restore him to normal thought, which is to say, devoid of emotion and anger. He knew the Irish were delightfully notorious for their liver-rotting whiskey; just what the doctor ordered.

"Headin' to get mighty bloody legless on a pint of moonshine?!"

"What the hell did you just say?"

"I ask if you were headin' out to get yourself bloody legless, didn't you hear me, mate?!"

"You're a moron, Suboshi."

"Ah, don't be getting' all haughty with me 'cause you don't know what I mean." Séamus replied, as he took a rolled fag from his pocket and lit it.

"You're too calm. For someone heading into war, you're very calm." Captain Andreas remarked after a moment of silence, during which he thoughtfully watched the young lad. "You don't fear dying?"

"No, 'cause I already repented my sins and confessed to the Father. I will be good 'til the war is done. If I live, it's 'cause of the Lord's mercy. If I die, I ain't dyin' with sins on my slate." Séamus replied, as he inhaled deeply.

"You're the antithesis to your brother."

"Hey, leave Jeremiah be. You bloody damn well know he's a pacifist. Once a pacifist, always a pacifist."

"Then, explain to me why he enlisted, especially since he enlisted at the start of the war."

"He hated being a ward of the county."

"And you?"

"You know I was raised in the IRA and I'm only goin' over because the Nazi betrayed us and bloody tried to bomb us into the dark ages." Séamus retorted, but then stopped. "That wouldn't be so bad, and then them damned Protestants wouldn't exist yet."

"You still have a simple view, don't you? Everything is black and white for you, isn't it, Suboshi?"

"And you're still a feelingless sadomasochistic bastard, eh, Nakago?!!"

"I can still blow you off the face of the earth if I fee like it." Captain Andreas replied, not liking the young man's sharp tongue. He knew in his heart, he had changed, and didn't like it when the reincarnated Seishi assumed him to be as he had been before.

"You need to relax. Some moonshine it'll fix that stiff back of yours right now. C'mon, I'm payin'." Séamus replied, as he hopped down from the crates he was sitting on. As he jumped down, he patted the captain on the shoulder, indicating for the man to follow.

Captain Andreas nodded his thanks, and followed the young man. His brow furrowed. "I'm sensing something about you. You know something but you're not sharing, and it's either about the existence of other Seishi, or…the Miko…"

Séamus felt the bile rise in his throat at the mention of the Seiryuu no Miko. He was hit with a barrage of images. Most of them the grotesques images of her death, as she died in her arms, as he had before saving her. He still felt her body in his arms.

"Se-seiryuu…no…M—miko…" he swallowed, as he verified hesitantly. He stammered, tripping over his speech. "Um…what are you…uh…talkin' about? Why…would I know any-anything a-a-bout her?!"

"Because you're jumbling your speech."

"Well…well…uh…"

"You have five seconds, Suboshi."

"She was killed by local thugs because they thought she was a spy! She died in my arms! There, happy???" Séamus spat out angrily.

"She was killed?"

"You got ignorance cloggin' the works? That's what I bloody said!"

"Don't be impudent, lad."

"Hn."

"And don't grunt at me!"

"Hn."

"You don't take orders well. That fails to amaze me; you are a rebel, after all." Captain Andreas sighed in resignation as he plodded onward. There was no point in arguing with a rebel, they knew all about to out-stubborning mules.

"Yes, I am." Séamus smirked, as he ran his fingers through his hair nonchalantly.

"You're anything but modest. That doesn't surprise me." Captain Andreas remarked, as he watched the boy with an odd sort of content smile over his features.

Shrugging, Séamus stepped ahead of the American captain and wandered into the pub and sat down at the counter, waiting for his companion to join him. While he waited, he turned to the bartender and waved. "I'd like my usual pint, mate."

"Comin' right up." The bartender replied, as he finished cleaning out a glass and setting it on the counter. Reaching back, he took out the strongest brew he had on the shelf and poured out the ordered pint.

"Say, where's yer shadow, laddy?" the bartender asked, making idle chatter, as he gave the pint over to Séamus who dropped two silver pence on the counter.

"My twin's at home."

"He ain't comin' out in the cross-fire, eh?! This here ain't nothin'. London's bathin' in this shit."

"No, he just wants a night at home. And I know that London's bein' bombed into bloody hell. 'Em Protestants deserve it."

"Fortunately the Germans are getting an adequate taste of their medicine."

"Eh, lookie here, we got an American boy in our ranks." The bartender commented, turning to the American captain. "What'll be sir?"

"What my friend's having."

Sliding the pint across the counter, he nodded. "Tonight's first pint is on the house. Any friend of Séamus gits a free-start on gettin' bloody legless."

"Thank you." Captain Andreas replied simply, as he accepted the pint. The Irish were certainly a unique bunch; a race on their own.

At that moment, the door to the pub opened, as rain started to pound on the tin roof. Lightening flashed outside; the burst of white light could be seen through the doorway, as the dimmed figure sauntered in, their sights fixated on the blonde captain.

"Rain, 'tis good thing, 'cause ain't the fire of 'em bloody Nazis." The bartender remarked, as he left his two patrons to serve others in the pub.

The two were left alone to continue to talk.

"It's dank, very reminiscent of the hostels that served as half-way homes for the vagabonds that wandered looking for work during the thirties." The blonde American captain commented, as he sipped on his pint, never noticing the eyes that were fixated on him.

'I've found you, Nakago.' The person thought. They wore a long trench coat, the collar turned up. The person knew the man's chi was lowered to mask itself, hence, a clue that his guard would be done.

Discreetly, the individual brought a hand out of the pocket of the trench coat and fired a shot of lightening, striking the captain in the centre of the back.

Jostled, Captain Andreas grunted in surprise, spilling some of the liquid from his pint. Setting it down, he jumped off the barstool and looked for the culprit. There was only one source for that, Soi. That meant, she was here right now. He felt the chi.

His sapphire eyes roamed the room, landing immediately on the individual in the trench coat. He stiffened. He didn't know what to expect. He reached over and quickly downed the remains of his pint. He then smacked Séamus on the shoulder.

"Get your ass in gear, we've got company."

"Gimme a bloody minute to finish it, Yankee."

"Move it or I'm chi-blasting your sorry ass into oblivion."

"Fine, fine!" Séamus griped, as he chugged the last of his pint and jumped down, landing next to the American. "What is so bloody important?"

Captain Andreas merely gestured at the dark figure in the trench coat.

The young man studied the other for a minute, sensing a chi. 'Soi!'

Approaching the figure in the trench coat, Captain Andreas stared the person down. "What exactly do you want?"

"To talk to you outside." The person had a French accent on their speech. They only issued the simpl reply before pivoting and leaving the pub.

"Come. Follow her!" Captain Andreas ordered.

"I ain't bloody on the damned battlefield yet, wanker." Séamus groused, as he sighed, stepping into line and chasing after the other. His common sense dictated that he not do that.

Once they were outside, the pair ran in the direction of the back ally, stopping once they found who they were looking for. Captain Andreas raised an arm, indicating for Séamus to not do anything right away. He approached the person in the trench coat. "Reveal yourself."

Turning down the collar, Aimée stared Captain Andreas hard into the face. "Is this good enough for you, Yankee?!"

"Soi."

"Nakago, the one who should have been drowned at birth."

"What?" he paled.

TBC...