AN First off, I would like to thank all those who reviewed. I don't think I did that before,
so I'm doing it now. Especially NafX, who so loyally reviews almost every update. I really
like the fact I have such a fan. You're the greatest, honestly. And shruti, thanks you too.
I was hoping that music scene was liked. It was meant to emphasize the huge contrast between
Quatre's easy situation and Heero anxiety.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Under Pressure
Chapter 12
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Heero was tired. He had walked for over a day now and Relena was growing heavy. He had
cleaned her wounds the best he had could, and suffered extreme mortification.
He bit his lip as he looked down on her pale face. It had been worse than when he had
tucked her in bed only a week ago. She was wounded pretty much allover. He had cleaned and
bandaged what he hoped were all the major ones, but he wasn't sure.
The edge of the forest couldn't be too far off. He shrugged and tried to find a better
position to carry Relena, but it was useless. His arms had gone numb a long time ago. He had
chanced only two hours of sleep and he was beginning to feel it. His legs were made of lead,
his head hurt and his back was coming apart. He had to rest. If he collapsed he wouldn't be
much good to Relena.
Gently he laid her on the ground and sat down next to her. Immediately his wariness took
over and he fell asleep.
A sound jolted him out of his slumber. His hand was halfway to his gun, until he saw
what had made the noise. A rabbit was rustling the leaves. At Heero's movements it hopped away.
He looked at Relena's sleeping form and decided she looked too pale for comfort. What
if one of her wounds started bleeding again? He didn't like it, but he had to check. So he
unwrapped the blankets around her and first checked her left arm. A long gash ran across her
fore-arm. The bandage, his shirt-sleeve, he had tied around it was still holding. So it wasn't
her arm. Maybe her shoulder.
The makeshift bandage didn't look too good. He untied it and stiffened. Somehow she had
burned her shoulder. The wound looked really bad. She needed a specialist to look at it. The
best he could do was clean it and retied the dressing.
He then looked at the most serious of all her injuries. The long tear from her right
side, just above her hip, to her lowest left rib. He had no idea how deep that went. For all
he knew, her internal organs could be terribly damaged. He could only tend to the wound the
best he could, but he sensed his abilities were insufficient in this case. She was still
bleeding after thirty hours. Of course it didn't help that he had jostled her around like a
sack, carrying her through these woods. He just hoped he could get her medical care soon.
He looked around. If he was right, it was only a few hours more to the edge of the
forest. From there, civilization was close. He decided to leave her legs alone. There was
nothing he could do to those burns anyway. He swathed her in the blankets again and lifted
her up.
He began walking again.
~~~~~~
Quatre was growing more and more nervous in the office at Preventer's headquarters.
Lady Une was steaming.
"What's keeping them?" she growled, pacing up and down the ten feet width of her office.
"I'm sure they'll be here soon," Quatre tried to soothe her. Pointless of course. The
poor woman was completely overworked. She had had to endure several press conferences about
the incident in Cinq, she was close to a nervous breakdown because two of the five Gundam
pilots were God-knew-where and two more still had not arrived, a Preventer commander was missing
in action and a man with dubious public reputation was badgering the whole headquarters demanding
information on his missing sister.
"Well, soon is not soon enough. They should have been here hours ago."
Quatre decided this wasn't the right time to point out the minor detail that it was the
Lady herself who had asked Duo and Trowa to take a little detour. She would explode. "Maybe
they'll find them."
"Yeah, and if wishes were wings, pigs could fly," Lady Une grumped.
"You know Heero. If anyone could have made it on time to pull Relena out of that fire,
it's him."
The Colonel sighed and sat down at her desk. "I know that. But they had a plane. If they
had Relena, wouldn't they just have flown back?"
Quatre shrugged. "Maybe the plane was damaged because of the explosion?" It was a long
shot and he knew it. According to eyewitnesses, the explosion had not been that devastating and
it had certainly not been able to even touch anything standing on the runway. It had been the
untamable fire that had destroyed the palace.
Lady Une shook her head. "That's bull! If those three had Relena, they should have
contacted us right away, instead of leaving us in the dark. Who do they think they are?!" She
kept ranting about Heero, Wufei and Sally's insubordination, sounding very much like Wufei
raving about some injustice.
Quatre sighed. Apparently the Colonel wasn't willing to except the possibility that
Relena was dead. He didn't want to think about it either, but he couldn't help it. He knew
Heero would walk through fire to help that woman, he had done that several times, but the
pilot of Wing Zero wasn't infallible. From what Quatre had heard they would have had to fly
to Cinq in record time and the chances of making it were one in a thousand.
"Colonel, as difficult as this may be to accept, we have to take in account the
possibility of Relena's death."
She didn't give him a chance to continue. "No! I will not except that. The girl is
vital for the world. Without her, we are lost. Completely! So don't bring me that crap! We
need her and I will not have her dead. You hear me?"
"Colonel, be realistic!" he shouted back, rather heated. "We have no way of knowing
whether she is dead or alive, but things don't look good. We have to prepare ourselves for
the worst-case scenario. I suggest we call in Colonel Zechs and see what information he has
managed to gather on this and how big the organization is we're dealing with."
Lady Une waved her hand dismissively. "Come on, Quatre. The Preventers have dealt with
numerous threats in the past. It's not like we can't handle another little war-loving terrorist
group."
Quatre banged his fist on the table, startling the other occupant of the room. Obviously,
Lady Une's sense of judgement was very clouded. "I don't think you realize the seriousness of
the situation. This new group may not be very new at all. They must have spent a lot of time in
preparing the assassination of Relena Darlian. And the base Wufei found held records dating
three years back. The fact that we haven't seen anything of them yet, worries me. They are well-
hidden and well-prepared. They've probably been around for so long they have managed to expand
their reach more than we can track down. This attack came out of nowhere and it scared me that
they have managed to take us by surprise like that. Now, call Colonel Zechs. We have to face
him anyway."
The woman in front of him hid her face in her hands. "Now I know why you were always
so good that we could never defeat you. Your analytic abilities exceed that of the average
human being. Very well, I'll call Zechs." She turned to her vid-phone immediately.
Quatre felt guilty. He had shouted at her, while she was under such stress. He just
hoped Relena was still alive. He hoped for a miracle. But if anyone could make miracles happen,
it was Heero.
~~~~~~
Heero took a deep breath and opened the door to the bar. It was an old-fashioned kind of
pub with wooden interior. A dark counter opposite from the door had six barstools. A few tables
were scattered across the dark floor. HE walked up to the counter.
"Do you have a phone?" he asked the barman.
The greying man pointed to his right. Just around the bar were the doors to the separate
restrooms and a phone. Heero had to control himself not to jump at the little machine. He picked
up the receiver and dialed a number only used in emergencies. He just hoped Duo would answer.
"Heero? Please tell me that's you."
Duo panicked voice almost brought a smile on Heero's face. "It is," he answered. "Where
are you?" He leaned against the wall, looking as casual and inconspicuous as he could.
"Just south of the Cinq palace, with Trowa, on an airplane."
Heero sighed with relief. "Can you come and pick me up?"
"Sure, where are you?"
Heero tried to orientate himself. "In a village on the eastern edge of the Grey Woods."
"Oh yeah, I know that place. Where can we land?"
"I suggest you try outside of town at the edge of the forest."
"Okay, see you there."
Heero put down the receiver and had to keep himself from slumping against the wall.
Thank God, that line still worked. He and Duo had sat it up a few years ago in case of an
emergency. Since Heero was one to live in seclusion, they had had to come up with a way to
keep in touch. This was the first time the connection had ever had to be used.
Casually Heero walked out the bar with a friendly wave to the barman. He left the
village behind and bolted towards the forest. He had hidden Relena amongst a few bushes,
wrapped tightly in all the blankets. He had no idea if anyone would be in that village and
he didn't want to raise any suspicion. He had guessed Duo wouldn't be to far off, or otherwise
Duo could have contacted someone close-by, the Preventers were probably swarming the royal
palace in Cinq, to come and pick the both of them up. Of course, Heero couldn't say he had
Relena with him. Just because no-one knew about the communication, didn't mean it couldn't
be intercepted.
It took him seven minutes to get back to Relena. Relief flooded him as he put a hand
against her forehead. From what he could make out, her condition hadn't worsened. Now all he
had to do was wait. It wouldn't take Duo and Trowa long to get here. When you were on foot
the forest seemed very big, but by air the distance was covered in less than an hour.
About forty minutes later the familiar wining of an airplane engine tore through the
sky. Heero left his hiding place. The logo was that of the Winner company. Figured, Quatre
was always ready to help out and Duo didn't own his own shuttle or airplane. The plane had
barely come to a halt, when Duo jumped out.
"Heero! Where the hell have you been? Where is Wufei? Where is Sally? Do you know
Lady Une is going nuts over all this? Please tell me you have Relena with you."
"She's right here. But she's hurt."
Duo face grew even more grim. "How bad?"
"Very bad. Sally wasn't there to help her and I've been dragging her through these
woods, so things could only have gotten worse."
"Okay, let's go get her."
Heero had already turned around. He bent low and picked the limp form of Relena up.
With a worried Duo on his heels, he headed for the aircraft. Trowa was waiting at the top of
the gangway.
"Here," he said. "Let me take her. You look about ready to fall over."
"I'm fine," Heero said curtly. He didn't want to give Relena over to anyone. He just
wanted to hold her, because he knew that in his arms, she was safe. 'And yet I failed to protect
her. How safe is that?' He entered the plane and placed her in one of the chairs. "Just get us
out of here," he said.
Trowa entered the cockpit and Duo sat down next to Heero.
"Will she make it?" The voice of the American sounded anxious.
"She made it this far. I see no reason why she would die now." Heero hadn't meant to
sound so rough. "There's nothing we can do except get to Preventers HQ a.s.a.p."
Duo just nodded.
Silence reigned for the next two hours.
~~~~~~
"Lady Une, we have a transmission from a Trowa Barton. He wishes to speak to you personally."
Lady Une jumped to the vid-phone. "Pass him through."
Quatre tensed. Please, good news. Let it be good news.
"This is Lady Une."
"Trowa Barton here," the familiar voice sounded through the office. "We're coming. I
suggest you have a med-team ready."
Could it be? Could they have Relena with them? They would have to wait and see, because
Trowa couldn't say that over an unprotected channel.
"Don't even think about it," a cold voice cut in.
Quatre walked around the desk to stand next to the Lady. Heero was with Trowa. He looked
grim, but worn.
"No med-team," the Japanese man said. "Too much publicity. Alert the hospital wing to]
ready an OR. That's more than enough."
Next to Quatre Lady Une heaved a sigh. Quatre felt like doing the same. That man was just
plain paranoid. Still, there was no sense arguing with him.
"Very well," Lady Une said. "No team. Just get here as fast as you can."
"Understood," Trowa cut in. The connection was terminated.
Lady Une leaned back in her chair. "Looks like she's still alive."
"Medically speaking, yes," Quatre answered. "But publicly, she's still dead. As long as
we keep it that way, we know she is no longer a target. That may give us the time we need to
figure out who's behind this and what they want."
"But as long as Relena is pronounced dead, the world has no leader. Panic will reign."
"Then we have to present the world with an intermediate leader. Once Relena is better,
she can help that one from the background."
Lady Une again his her face in her hands. "And who do you propose? Who will be accepted
by both Earth and the colonies? And has the stamina to take on Relena's position? It's not easy
to take on her job."
Quatre frowned. Now there's a thought. Who could take on the job as vice foreign minister,
voluntarily? None of the politicians Quatre knew off were qualified. Besides, that substitute
would have to bo as neutral as Relena herself. That quickly narrowed down the list to Zechs.
True, his past was against him, but he also came from Cinq, so he had the same neutrality
as Relena. He might not have as much diplomatic experience, but he was a natural leader, much in
the same way as his sister. He couldn't replace her for that long a time though, or the people
would start remembering his days as leader of the White Fang. Still, his military knowledge would
be of use, because he could prevent the situation from escalating. He could explain clearly what
the Preventers were doing and soothe the people's tempers.
But it was best to wait with that for a while. If they came up with a substitute too
fast, people would think it suspicious. Besides, the Preventers couldn't be linked too closely
to a politician. No politician was allowed anything that looked like military support. And
Preventer support would count as that.
"We'll worry about that when it comes," Quatre said instead. "Let's just see what the
others are bringing in, okay?"
Lady Une nodded and got up. In silence the two walked across the crowded hall towards
the elevators.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AN And that was another chapter. I have nothing else to say, except that I hope I get the
inspiration to finish this story, soon. And please review?
so I'm doing it now. Especially NafX, who so loyally reviews almost every update. I really
like the fact I have such a fan. You're the greatest, honestly. And shruti, thanks you too.
I was hoping that music scene was liked. It was meant to emphasize the huge contrast between
Quatre's easy situation and Heero anxiety.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Under Pressure
Chapter 12
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Heero was tired. He had walked for over a day now and Relena was growing heavy. He had
cleaned her wounds the best he had could, and suffered extreme mortification.
He bit his lip as he looked down on her pale face. It had been worse than when he had
tucked her in bed only a week ago. She was wounded pretty much allover. He had cleaned and
bandaged what he hoped were all the major ones, but he wasn't sure.
The edge of the forest couldn't be too far off. He shrugged and tried to find a better
position to carry Relena, but it was useless. His arms had gone numb a long time ago. He had
chanced only two hours of sleep and he was beginning to feel it. His legs were made of lead,
his head hurt and his back was coming apart. He had to rest. If he collapsed he wouldn't be
much good to Relena.
Gently he laid her on the ground and sat down next to her. Immediately his wariness took
over and he fell asleep.
A sound jolted him out of his slumber. His hand was halfway to his gun, until he saw
what had made the noise. A rabbit was rustling the leaves. At Heero's movements it hopped away.
He looked at Relena's sleeping form and decided she looked too pale for comfort. What
if one of her wounds started bleeding again? He didn't like it, but he had to check. So he
unwrapped the blankets around her and first checked her left arm. A long gash ran across her
fore-arm. The bandage, his shirt-sleeve, he had tied around it was still holding. So it wasn't
her arm. Maybe her shoulder.
The makeshift bandage didn't look too good. He untied it and stiffened. Somehow she had
burned her shoulder. The wound looked really bad. She needed a specialist to look at it. The
best he could do was clean it and retied the dressing.
He then looked at the most serious of all her injuries. The long tear from her right
side, just above her hip, to her lowest left rib. He had no idea how deep that went. For all
he knew, her internal organs could be terribly damaged. He could only tend to the wound the
best he could, but he sensed his abilities were insufficient in this case. She was still
bleeding after thirty hours. Of course it didn't help that he had jostled her around like a
sack, carrying her through these woods. He just hoped he could get her medical care soon.
He looked around. If he was right, it was only a few hours more to the edge of the
forest. From there, civilization was close. He decided to leave her legs alone. There was
nothing he could do to those burns anyway. He swathed her in the blankets again and lifted
her up.
He began walking again.
~~~~~~
Quatre was growing more and more nervous in the office at Preventer's headquarters.
Lady Une was steaming.
"What's keeping them?" she growled, pacing up and down the ten feet width of her office.
"I'm sure they'll be here soon," Quatre tried to soothe her. Pointless of course. The
poor woman was completely overworked. She had had to endure several press conferences about
the incident in Cinq, she was close to a nervous breakdown because two of the five Gundam
pilots were God-knew-where and two more still had not arrived, a Preventer commander was missing
in action and a man with dubious public reputation was badgering the whole headquarters demanding
information on his missing sister.
"Well, soon is not soon enough. They should have been here hours ago."
Quatre decided this wasn't the right time to point out the minor detail that it was the
Lady herself who had asked Duo and Trowa to take a little detour. She would explode. "Maybe
they'll find them."
"Yeah, and if wishes were wings, pigs could fly," Lady Une grumped.
"You know Heero. If anyone could have made it on time to pull Relena out of that fire,
it's him."
The Colonel sighed and sat down at her desk. "I know that. But they had a plane. If they
had Relena, wouldn't they just have flown back?"
Quatre shrugged. "Maybe the plane was damaged because of the explosion?" It was a long
shot and he knew it. According to eyewitnesses, the explosion had not been that devastating and
it had certainly not been able to even touch anything standing on the runway. It had been the
untamable fire that had destroyed the palace.
Lady Une shook her head. "That's bull! If those three had Relena, they should have
contacted us right away, instead of leaving us in the dark. Who do they think they are?!" She
kept ranting about Heero, Wufei and Sally's insubordination, sounding very much like Wufei
raving about some injustice.
Quatre sighed. Apparently the Colonel wasn't willing to except the possibility that
Relena was dead. He didn't want to think about it either, but he couldn't help it. He knew
Heero would walk through fire to help that woman, he had done that several times, but the
pilot of Wing Zero wasn't infallible. From what Quatre had heard they would have had to fly
to Cinq in record time and the chances of making it were one in a thousand.
"Colonel, as difficult as this may be to accept, we have to take in account the
possibility of Relena's death."
She didn't give him a chance to continue. "No! I will not except that. The girl is
vital for the world. Without her, we are lost. Completely! So don't bring me that crap! We
need her and I will not have her dead. You hear me?"
"Colonel, be realistic!" he shouted back, rather heated. "We have no way of knowing
whether she is dead or alive, but things don't look good. We have to prepare ourselves for
the worst-case scenario. I suggest we call in Colonel Zechs and see what information he has
managed to gather on this and how big the organization is we're dealing with."
Lady Une waved her hand dismissively. "Come on, Quatre. The Preventers have dealt with
numerous threats in the past. It's not like we can't handle another little war-loving terrorist
group."
Quatre banged his fist on the table, startling the other occupant of the room. Obviously,
Lady Une's sense of judgement was very clouded. "I don't think you realize the seriousness of
the situation. This new group may not be very new at all. They must have spent a lot of time in
preparing the assassination of Relena Darlian. And the base Wufei found held records dating
three years back. The fact that we haven't seen anything of them yet, worries me. They are well-
hidden and well-prepared. They've probably been around for so long they have managed to expand
their reach more than we can track down. This attack came out of nowhere and it scared me that
they have managed to take us by surprise like that. Now, call Colonel Zechs. We have to face
him anyway."
The woman in front of him hid her face in her hands. "Now I know why you were always
so good that we could never defeat you. Your analytic abilities exceed that of the average
human being. Very well, I'll call Zechs." She turned to her vid-phone immediately.
Quatre felt guilty. He had shouted at her, while she was under such stress. He just
hoped Relena was still alive. He hoped for a miracle. But if anyone could make miracles happen,
it was Heero.
~~~~~~
Heero took a deep breath and opened the door to the bar. It was an old-fashioned kind of
pub with wooden interior. A dark counter opposite from the door had six barstools. A few tables
were scattered across the dark floor. HE walked up to the counter.
"Do you have a phone?" he asked the barman.
The greying man pointed to his right. Just around the bar were the doors to the separate
restrooms and a phone. Heero had to control himself not to jump at the little machine. He picked
up the receiver and dialed a number only used in emergencies. He just hoped Duo would answer.
"Heero? Please tell me that's you."
Duo panicked voice almost brought a smile on Heero's face. "It is," he answered. "Where
are you?" He leaned against the wall, looking as casual and inconspicuous as he could.
"Just south of the Cinq palace, with Trowa, on an airplane."
Heero sighed with relief. "Can you come and pick me up?"
"Sure, where are you?"
Heero tried to orientate himself. "In a village on the eastern edge of the Grey Woods."
"Oh yeah, I know that place. Where can we land?"
"I suggest you try outside of town at the edge of the forest."
"Okay, see you there."
Heero put down the receiver and had to keep himself from slumping against the wall.
Thank God, that line still worked. He and Duo had sat it up a few years ago in case of an
emergency. Since Heero was one to live in seclusion, they had had to come up with a way to
keep in touch. This was the first time the connection had ever had to be used.
Casually Heero walked out the bar with a friendly wave to the barman. He left the
village behind and bolted towards the forest. He had hidden Relena amongst a few bushes,
wrapped tightly in all the blankets. He had no idea if anyone would be in that village and
he didn't want to raise any suspicion. He had guessed Duo wouldn't be to far off, or otherwise
Duo could have contacted someone close-by, the Preventers were probably swarming the royal
palace in Cinq, to come and pick the both of them up. Of course, Heero couldn't say he had
Relena with him. Just because no-one knew about the communication, didn't mean it couldn't
be intercepted.
It took him seven minutes to get back to Relena. Relief flooded him as he put a hand
against her forehead. From what he could make out, her condition hadn't worsened. Now all he
had to do was wait. It wouldn't take Duo and Trowa long to get here. When you were on foot
the forest seemed very big, but by air the distance was covered in less than an hour.
About forty minutes later the familiar wining of an airplane engine tore through the
sky. Heero left his hiding place. The logo was that of the Winner company. Figured, Quatre
was always ready to help out and Duo didn't own his own shuttle or airplane. The plane had
barely come to a halt, when Duo jumped out.
"Heero! Where the hell have you been? Where is Wufei? Where is Sally? Do you know
Lady Une is going nuts over all this? Please tell me you have Relena with you."
"She's right here. But she's hurt."
Duo face grew even more grim. "How bad?"
"Very bad. Sally wasn't there to help her and I've been dragging her through these
woods, so things could only have gotten worse."
"Okay, let's go get her."
Heero had already turned around. He bent low and picked the limp form of Relena up.
With a worried Duo on his heels, he headed for the aircraft. Trowa was waiting at the top of
the gangway.
"Here," he said. "Let me take her. You look about ready to fall over."
"I'm fine," Heero said curtly. He didn't want to give Relena over to anyone. He just
wanted to hold her, because he knew that in his arms, she was safe. 'And yet I failed to protect
her. How safe is that?' He entered the plane and placed her in one of the chairs. "Just get us
out of here," he said.
Trowa entered the cockpit and Duo sat down next to Heero.
"Will she make it?" The voice of the American sounded anxious.
"She made it this far. I see no reason why she would die now." Heero hadn't meant to
sound so rough. "There's nothing we can do except get to Preventers HQ a.s.a.p."
Duo just nodded.
Silence reigned for the next two hours.
~~~~~~
"Lady Une, we have a transmission from a Trowa Barton. He wishes to speak to you personally."
Lady Une jumped to the vid-phone. "Pass him through."
Quatre tensed. Please, good news. Let it be good news.
"This is Lady Une."
"Trowa Barton here," the familiar voice sounded through the office. "We're coming. I
suggest you have a med-team ready."
Could it be? Could they have Relena with them? They would have to wait and see, because
Trowa couldn't say that over an unprotected channel.
"Don't even think about it," a cold voice cut in.
Quatre walked around the desk to stand next to the Lady. Heero was with Trowa. He looked
grim, but worn.
"No med-team," the Japanese man said. "Too much publicity. Alert the hospital wing to]
ready an OR. That's more than enough."
Next to Quatre Lady Une heaved a sigh. Quatre felt like doing the same. That man was just
plain paranoid. Still, there was no sense arguing with him.
"Very well," Lady Une said. "No team. Just get here as fast as you can."
"Understood," Trowa cut in. The connection was terminated.
Lady Une leaned back in her chair. "Looks like she's still alive."
"Medically speaking, yes," Quatre answered. "But publicly, she's still dead. As long as
we keep it that way, we know she is no longer a target. That may give us the time we need to
figure out who's behind this and what they want."
"But as long as Relena is pronounced dead, the world has no leader. Panic will reign."
"Then we have to present the world with an intermediate leader. Once Relena is better,
she can help that one from the background."
Lady Une again his her face in her hands. "And who do you propose? Who will be accepted
by both Earth and the colonies? And has the stamina to take on Relena's position? It's not easy
to take on her job."
Quatre frowned. Now there's a thought. Who could take on the job as vice foreign minister,
voluntarily? None of the politicians Quatre knew off were qualified. Besides, that substitute
would have to bo as neutral as Relena herself. That quickly narrowed down the list to Zechs.
True, his past was against him, but he also came from Cinq, so he had the same neutrality
as Relena. He might not have as much diplomatic experience, but he was a natural leader, much in
the same way as his sister. He couldn't replace her for that long a time though, or the people
would start remembering his days as leader of the White Fang. Still, his military knowledge would
be of use, because he could prevent the situation from escalating. He could explain clearly what
the Preventers were doing and soothe the people's tempers.
But it was best to wait with that for a while. If they came up with a substitute too
fast, people would think it suspicious. Besides, the Preventers couldn't be linked too closely
to a politician. No politician was allowed anything that looked like military support. And
Preventer support would count as that.
"We'll worry about that when it comes," Quatre said instead. "Let's just see what the
others are bringing in, okay?"
Lady Une nodded and got up. In silence the two walked across the crowded hall towards
the elevators.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AN And that was another chapter. I have nothing else to say, except that I hope I get the
inspiration to finish this story, soon. And please review?