Plura Ater Nox
Chapter 29
Captain Andreas paled, all colour draining from his face, as he stared in utter horror, his emotions unmasked, as he tried to digest the former Seiryuu Seishi Soi's words. His throat felt like it was constricting; his mouth. No words could cross his parched lips other than the strained and whispered word of "what?"
He didn't mask his dubious tone. There was no point. It was revealed by the emotions dancing over his visage, as he tried to comes to terms with what she had just said to him, her, the one that had confessed to loving him once upon a time.
Her tone and words even aroused scepticism in Séamus. He didn't like the looks of this one bit. She couldn't be trusted. He could feel it; she had that look in her eye and that feel of her aura. It was the inkling of a telltale sign that gave away her intrinsic motive.
"Mate, I trust the wench like I trust 'em Nazi bastards." Séamus remarked, privy only for Captain Andreas' ears. "I think that Jew might've been with a full deck. Seems this gal's nothin' but a pawn, or more, she might be a Nazi."
Captain Andreas shook his head. "No, I don't feel it, Kennedy. She's angry and it's a personal issue, it has nothing to do with what her loyalties may be now." He whispered, as he turned his eyes back to the one he felt great feelings for.
'Ah, so Nakago is naïve and Suboshi is the wise one. This is a delightful change. What's more, Nakago isn't listening to the boy and the boy is right. This is quite good for me. I can play with this.' Aimée thought to herself, as she listened to the words exchanged.
"She's been hurt." Captain Andreas whispered and turned to the woman he had fallen in love with as Nakago. He advanced on her and took her hands in his. "Soi…"
"Let me go!" Aimée pulled her hands from his aggressively and stepped back. "Don't touch me, Yankee. I didn't come here to serve as your prostitute, I came here for one reason, revenge."
Her eyes flared with haughty indignation from having the contact. She didn't want to even let the man think that he could get away with touching her. She wanted to convey her anger in its entirety without any inhibitions. Her body reflected this; the language clear as day as she clenched her fist at her side, her hateful glare fixated on the blonde man she knew to be Nakago, a man she had once loved with all her being, only to be rejected… For some small girl from the other world.
"Soi! Please, listen to me!" Captain Andreas pleaded. "What happened in the other life, how I treated you, I truly regret it! Soi, I loved you, I didn't know how to express it. Please, I'm begging you, don't hate me, give me a second chance. That's why we were reincarnated, right? To have a second chance at everything, even love; to make up for our mistakes. Soi, please…"
The captain got down on one knee before her, taking her hand in his. He gazed into those cold, seemingly feelingless and emotionless greyish eyes. He looked for the glint that used to be there, the spark that used to light up when she saw him. He wanted to see that again. He reached and took her hand in his, kissing the top.
"Please, forgive me for my wronging of you in the past. I never wanted to hurt you." He added, his voice low, overflowing with sappy sincerity; his icy blue eyes downcast to the ground reflecting the truth of his words as they flowed out of his mouth.
She gazed down at him, her eyes filled with bitter contempt. Then, slowly over her features crept a knowing smirk. Perhaps there was a way to exploit this and put it to her use. It wouldn't be much different that what he had done to Seiryuu no Miko in the previous life. Nonetheless, she was unaware that she was being attentively observed by Séamus, whose eyes were narrow in distrust.
'She's going to do something. Good god! Andreas is blind to this!' he though in alert, as he swallowed. His eyes moved over her. She wore a trench coat and carried a bag. He prayed she would put down the bag, thus opening up a chance for him to go through and find a clue.
The second she let it go, he pounced in it. Opening it, he pulled the contents apart. He paused as he pulled out the jacket. 'A Nazi…' he sighed, rolling his eyes. 'Gee, I'm right and Andreas is wrong, why does that not surprise me.'
Aimée seemed to sense an invasion of her privacy. She cast a glance over the shoulder of Captain Andreas, her eyes landing on the former Seiryuu Seishi Suboshi, the boy who knew more than he ever let on. He seemed to have a certain wisdom that went beyond his youth. She had to act fast. She had to distract the former Seiryuu Seishi Nakago so that he wouldn't listen to the boy.
"Nakago…" she whispered. She had to soften her disposition, draw him with her lure. A soft smile crossed her lips, as she tilted her head, her brad carelessly falling over one shoulder. "I…"
Captain Andreas looked up to her, his icy blue eyes flooding with renewed hope. "Oui, mon petit belle fleur?" He clutched her hand to his chest.
"Perhaps I was too harsh." She replied softly. 'That is such tripe, I know very well that I could care less about him and I'm only doing this because I don't need my cover blown. Now…how to get my bag back from Suboshi…'
Thinking quickly, she gave a low sultry moan. "Would you kindly fetch my bag from Suboshi? I would like it back and he's being bad and invading my privacy."
"Yes my dear, as you wish." The captain said, as he stood up and seized the bag from Séamus. He promptly placed the items back in without so much as a second glance to see what the lad had been intently looking at. He placed the bag over his shoulder. "Please, allow me to carry it, madam."
Holding up his arm, he gazed with such love in his eyes, at her. "Shall I escort you to the hostel and get you set up for the night? Perhaps you'd like to go to a pub? I oft venture there and escape the drudgery of war by playing on stage with a small jazz ensemble."
She nodded, her silence her weapon.
He took that as his cue to continue. "You've heard of New Orleans? I was part of a quaint jazz band. Often we took our music down to the Mardi Gras."
Wordlessly she nodded. Secretly she disliked this – well, listening to him talk – and didn't feel like being an active participant in the exchange. There was only one good thing and that was that he had saved her bag from the former Seiryuu Seishi Suboshi and hadn't even begun to question its very contents.
"May I take you to the pub I'm playing at? You'll love it, I promise you." Captain Andreas whispered, as he gazed down at her, his eyes filled with such loving admiration.
Watching them leave, Séamus narrowed his eyes in distrust. He then sighed. 'And we're trusting Andreas to head this campaign? God, if he's already fallen this hard, I hate to see who he would trust over there. We are doomed!'
~~~~
He sat on the post at the dock, over looking the bay in the city, as he watched the sun disappear over the horizon. He enjoyed these moments of solitude. It gave him a chance to think, actually, more like relish in the loneliness that was solitude.
"A penny for your thoughts."
Gazing up, Jeremiah turned his gaze to Séamus. "What are you doing out? I thought you went with Brennan to the pub?"
"No, I was with Andreas." Séamus replied bitterly, as he came to stand next to his twin.
Arching an eyebrow in interest, Jeremiah queried, "What did he do to irritate you? You usually say nothing ill of him."
"Well, now I am!" Séamus replied indignantly. Angrily he spat, "That guy is bloody hopeless! Can't we just put Stonewall in charge? At least he won't fall for the little French Nazi bitches!"
Jeremiah's eyes widened in shock. "What are you talking about? You're not talking about Angelique are you? Because, I know Andreas didn't like the sight of her. The only one you could mean is…"
"There is another one. Angelique was a POW; this other girl is a spy for the bloody crouts."
Jeremiah had to smile. His brother had picked up on some American slang. But, his smile vanished quickly as he inclined his head. "Who is this other woman?"
"None other than the one Angelique named to be Aimée Beauregard, also better known as Seiryuu Seishi Soi."
Jeremiah groaned. "We're doomed!"
"Gee, that sentiment sounds vaguely familiar…" Séamus mused sarcastically. "I figured that as soon as Andreas knelt before Soi and prostrated himself at her feet and snivelled, begging for her forgiveness."
"I'm no sap, now the God's to honest truth!" Jeremiah exclaimed, not wanting to believe what words fell from his twin's mouth. It was too ludicrous to be true.
"I am speaking the God's honest truth, I swear on my ancestors' grave!" Séamus replied; as he held up a hand and placed the other on his hear. "And if I'm lying, may the Lord strike me dead."
"Ok, ok! I believe you." Jeremiah sighed, caving. He gazed out over the bay. "How should we warn the others?"
"It'll be our words against Andreas' word and the way he doted on Soi, we'll be facing opposition unlike no other. We've got no power, so, no one will really believe us… Wait!" Séamus' face lit up excitedly. "We could get the former Suzaku Seishi on our side."
"That's right!" Jeremiah replied with eagerness that matched his twin's. "Let's go!"
"Try and stop me!" Séamus retorted, as his twin jumped down from the post upon which he sat. Patting him on the shoulder, the pair ran into the city from the docks where they were.
~~~~
Her name rolled off his tongue with such musical notation, her beauty danced before him and her laughter was the glorious melody of hope that soared high in his heart, giving him hope for the future. Her personality was magnetic and her boundless energy youthfully refreshing. He was smitten by her and wasn't afraid to deny it.
Finally, she was what he had wanted; he had been unable to have her last time, for she had turned out to be nothing less than a he. But, alas, now he had a second chance with her in all her beauty, both internal and external.
Taking her hand in his, he kissed the top. "You are beautiful, Angelique. Fate is finally being nice to us." He whispered, as he gazed at her. He knew she wouldn't understand what he was saying, but the fact that they were together was enough for both.
She blushed modestly as she felt his warm lips caress the top of her hand. Finally, she had him! It had only been a dream for an eternity until now. She could only dream of the former Suzaku Seishi, Hotohori singing praises of admiration to her and kissing her with such passion, even if just on the hand.
"J'ai rêvé de ceci pendant des années." Angelique whispered back to Captain Stonewall. She did know his name and some history from the kindly provided translation service of Lieutenant Faulkner, who had left a short while ago, to allow for the two to have time alone.
Leaning in, she kissed him on the cheek, her mouth moving next to his ear. "Je t'aime, Russell."
He didn't need a translator for that. He knew just exactly how she felt and no one needed to tell him that. All he needed was his own good common sense and her.
"Angelique, you're all I ever wanted." He leaned in, pressing his forehead against hers before he reached and brushed strands of violet hair from her eyes. "Nuriko."
"Hotohori…" Angelique whispered, leaning into that gentle touch. How nice his hand felt against her face as obtrusive strands of hair were pushed from her face and moved aside. She closed her eyes, the touch bringing her to cloud nine.
His lips moved, brushing lightly over Angelique's cheek. He pulled back. "Forgive me for being too forward. I hope I didn't offend you."
Angelique sighed happily. She turned and returned the kiss to him on his right cheek, her lips lingering, and her breath caressing his skin. She didn't know what he had said to her. She knew that even if she spoke, he wouldn't understand, so actions would speak what she couldn't in words, for between then was an invisible curtain.
"Les mots sont injustifiés. Nous ne pouvons pas parler." Angelique brought a hand up to the captain's face, tracing a slender digit over the curves of his chin. She knew that they didn't understand each other and that words were pointless. Softly, she added words of passion, telling him, it was okay to kiss her.
"Laissez nos baisers être nos mots."
'God how I wish I could tell her how I really feel about her. I hate not being able to talk to her in a common tongue, not even Latin!' Captain Stonewall thought bitterly, as he savoured the sweetness of the moment as it lay before him.
Grabbing her hand, Captain Stonewall stood up. "I know you don't understand me, but you'll understand this, come with me, I have something I have to share with you!"
Inclining her head as she suppressed a giggle, Angelique nodded and stood up, her hand in Captain Stonewall's. "Merci beaucoup, Russell." Well, it seemed the suitable thing to say, since he was holding out his hand to her – well, took it.
Well, at least she was in agreement to come along.
"I know you don't understand me, but, you'll like what I'm going to show you. A friend of mine is a musician who plays the saxophone and I think you'll like the music." Captain Stonewall replied, even though his knew that she wouldn't really understand at all.
She couldn't help but to giggle at his enthusiasm as he pulled her out of the building and down to the waiting horseless carriage he owned. Opening the door, he held it for her as she nodded graciously and daintily climbed in, making sure not to lift her skirt too high up the leg as she sat in the vehicle.
Shutting the door, Captain Stonewall moved and got into the driver's side. Starting the vehicle, he put it into gear and guided it down the cobble stone road to the pub that Captain Andreas was playing at that night.
Captain Andreas, also known as Julien César Andreas, hadn't always been in the army. As a young boy, he had been a musician. His father had been a professional pianist with the symphony orchestra of New Orleans. Captain Andreas had admired his father and often followed the man to rehearsal, where one day when the room was empty, he found an abandoned saxophone and picked up. He had only been six years old when he had first lifted it up.
He caressed his hands over the keys, clacking it. He looked over it, noting a reed at the mouth piece. Raising it to his mouth, he tooted on it, creating a scale. He giggled at the noise, but had greatly angered his father, who took a leather strap to the boy's hands.
The owner of the saxophone reprimanded the father of Julien for such actions and had given the boy back the saxophone and encouraged him to play a few more notes.
"The boy is a natural." The man had remarked and then added that he would be happy to teach Julien how to play the saxophone.
When he was ten years old, Julien had been taken with his tutor to the French Quarter in New Orleans, despite the objections of his conservative Catholic parents, both of Creole descent, who viewed that part of the city as being the housing for Satan to conduct his illicit transactions and lure the vulnerable into his wrath with empty promises. When he was there, Julien had been taken with his tutor onto the stage in front of people at a local speak-easy. There, he first put his skills into practice.
He hadn't been informed before hand, but he had been put on to do a solo, to debut his skills before the arts society that was the life of the French Quarter, the people who his parents looked down upon with such scorn, for they were nothing more than sinners indulging in the empty promises of the Satan. Never once did Julien believe that, or think that he was playing solo. That was, until the applause of respect and admiration rang through the thick blue air of the pub.
He fell in love with that sound.
He craved it.
As a teenager, he snuck out of his room at night in order to play for the art community. Until the one night his mother caught him and seized his saxophone. Outraged, he rebelled against her move, incinerating the room in the blink of an eye, his character of 'kokoro' glaring in the centre of his forehead, causing her to step back, proclaiming him to have been caught by the devil and that he was a devil child.
That was fine by him; it gave him reason to run away.
He didn't have any real choices at the age of fifteen for where he could go. Lying about his age, he enlisted in the army of the United States of America.
Despite having spent the last ten years of his life in the army, he had still found a free moment or two, such as the one tonight, to play with a local jazz band or go solo at the local pub.
He was still on stage, only tonight, he was in his military uniform, as that is what he was wearing when he found Aimée and discovered the sweet goddess named Soi he had been missing his life. Of course, he was blissfully ignorant to the fact that she hated him now. That was the furthest thing from his mind at the moment; as he took a break from the set and came down to sit at the table with Aimée and his colleague, Captain Stonewall and his date.
Pulling his chair next to Aimée, Captain Andreas slipped his arm around her and gazed at his friend, a rather cocky grin over his expression. "Enjoying your little moment?"
"Yes, quite so, actually." Captain Stonewall replied.
"You don't mind that she speaks no English and you no French?"
"Most certainly it has come to mind, but bothers me in the least."
Nodding, the blond captain made a motion with his eyes to the floor. "Going to take the lady out for a good old fashion swing? Or, perhaps the jitterbug?"
"With my lovely lady no less." Captain Stonewall replied, as he took Angelique's hand, intending to guide her to the dance floor.
Gazing tentatively at Aimée, Angelique swallowed. "Would you mind ordering me a kosher wine?" She only asked her former friend because she didn't know about Captain Andreas' French.
"Oui, mon ami." Aimée replied sweetly, almost too sweetly.
Angelique didn't think anything of her ex-friend's tone, as she nodded and joined Captain Stonewall on the dance floor for a moment of mirth and merriment.
Leaning in, Captain Andreas kissed Aimée on the cheek as she indifferently sat, waiting for him to leave. He left her as the drinks that had been ordered were brought to the table. At the same moment, she placed an order for Angelique.
Reaching into her hand bag, she pulled out a small tin and a pill. She took a bill from her pocketbook and leaned in to the waiter. "Put this in the drink."
Slipping the bill in his pocket casually, he nodded and went to fetch the order plus the little extra that Aimée had ordered. He didn't think anything of it, nor question her possible motives.
The former Seiryuu Seishi Soi had handed the waiter a pill, but it just wasn't any pill, it was one she had got from Johann, which she had been told was popular for exterminating the unwanted and the problem that caused Germany's economic slump and fall. The pill was best known as the suicide pill, made with a cyanide compound – destructive. It was best given to the victim when they had an empty stomach, for that was when the pill worked the fastest.
Bringing the drink back to the table once adding it to the tab, the waiter left it on the table and left, unaware of what was about to happen.
On the bandstand, Captain Andreas was losing himself in the sweet embrace of his music, the notes encasing him in his own world, drawing him away from the pain of this world.
On the floor, Captain Stonewall skilfully swung Angelique around, as they moved in perfected sync with the other's body motions. IT was as though they were made for the other's very movements.
On the side, Aimée watched through calculating eyes, her grey eyes catching every moved as she counted down to when she caught the girl that escaped her lover's wrath.
'Only now is it at the most minutes.' She thought as she listened to Andreas' claim another solo. She did have to admit he was very skilled, the wafting string of notes that flowed from his saxophone were seductive.
She couldn't help it, in anticipation; she could feel her success flowing through her veins. Her tongue slipped out, subtly running over her top lip.
Finally, after what could have been an eternity, the couple returned, Angelique remarking, much to Aimée's glee, "oh, how famished I am!"
Of course, Captain Stonewall could only nod, for he didn't know what her very words were.
Noting her drink was on the table, Angelique nodded her thanks to Aimée, who with cat-like eyes attentively observed the violet-haired young woman, waiting for the very moment for the suicide pill to eat away and digest the stomach.
The serving that Angelique had was quite modest; the glass was only just mere ounces, so she was finished in seconds. She was adept to such vile tastes; hence, she failed to notice the revolting taste of the cyanide compound in her drink.
Angelique blinked. Something didn't feel right. She doubled over, clutching her stomach. It wasn't her time of month, for that had come to pass. What else could it have been? Her drink…
It had tasted off now that she thought about.
She gasped. Aimée couldn't have slipped something in,
could she? The thought sent chills down
her spin, as she went to open her mouth, but nothing came out. The cyanide had been taken into her system
far too quickly, and only one thing she could utter before falling dead, her
eyes open, and her body sprawled over the floor: "Aimée…it's your…fault…"
Only Aimée and Captain Andreas, who in a panic came back to the table when he
saw her fall, understood the words that had been uttered.
"Aimée, what does she mean by that?" he asked her, as he turned to her, speaking in English.
"I don't know." She replied.
That was a lie, for she did know. It was her fault; she had murdered the other woman in cold blood. But, surprisingly, it didn't bother her.
~~~~
"You say we have a spy in our vicinity now and she has her claws in Andreas?"
"Yes sir!" The twins replied in unison.
"Faulkner!" General Marshall called out.
"Sir!" the lieutenant replied.
"Find him and expel him from the mission, he's a danger to us. He could leak vital information."
"Are you sure? Can we trust what the twins have told us?" Lieutenant Faulkner replied, as he gazed over at General Marshall, who sat behind his desk, his eyes on the twins.
"There is a high stake in war, everything is at risk and nothing is sacred."
Nodding, the lieutenant left the room. He didn't like what he was about to do, for he trusted Captain Andreas, well, until now. He didn't want to expel him from the mission. He decided to do the next best thing, take over the mission himself. He needed a good fighter and Andreas more than met those qualifications…
TBC…
Author's Notes: well, we have almost reached the end now people! I will be finishing this in one more chapter. I already have the final chapter – the epilogue – written and ready to post. I will be working on the last chapter while I'm overseas. I hope I may be able to give a better feel for the battlefield setting – I hope to see where I want to set this. So, this is my instalment before I am away from my computer for a month. But, at least you know that I am leaving you with a promise to finish the final chapter. I hope you have enjoy it so far, and don't forget to review, I would like to know what people honestly think about this. ~ Ai-chan