All right… so I'm not dead, but I am very tired…. Of homework. Of school. Of thinking about all the junk I have to do. 30 or so more days until I graduate! No more papers to write, but I've got 5 exams coming up in the next 3 weeks. Anyway I'd like to once again thank the people who've reviewed this story… I really appreciate the feedback and I hope you're still trying to figure out what's going on. Enjoy the 4th chapter.
Prisoners of the Past
The Hunt Begins
Being watched is a curious feeling.
It is not always the product of paranoia. Sometimes, one used to strictly being the watcher finds themselves in an unfamiliar position when the roles are reversed.
It is often characterized by an uneasy stomach, that weird feeling in the twisting of one's gut along with an emptiness that can not be qualified.
It leaves the throat dry. Hair standing on end. The mind conjuring images embellished by an overzealous imagination.
Noin understood that in leaving the hospital she left her only sanctuary. The only place where she would be free from dealing with unfinished business. But it was also the one place she couldn't stay put.
He knew she was there, and therefore she had to leave before he came back.
He had the means to track her. The money. The connections. And she knew he would try to eventually. Once he set out on something, he didn't give up. But she had the means to outsmart him. Street-wise experience gained from the last two years of her life. She had escaped from him once, and she would do it again.
As long as she could run she would run from him.
*****
Dorothy mounted the steep, plush red-velvet lined steps purposely. Her heart beat fast with the anticipation of the action she was sure would ensue.
One more thing her dear grandfather had instilled in her at an early age: the lust for battle. The perverse excitement of fighting to protect one's own life. The rush of adrenalin and grit necessary to will oneself to keep fighting back.
Definitely not ladylike, but Dorothy never claimed to be a lady. Anyone who knew her was not fool enough to even entertain the notion.
Reaching the top step, Dorothy paused to take a deep breath and study her settings. It was quite possibly the last time she saw this place. The ornate ball room. Decorated dome. Elaborate chandeliers. Intricate wood paneling.
A little flutter of emotion filled her heart. A momentary lapse of.. Sadness? Or could it have been… regret?
She quickly dismissed the thought, not being able to analyze or understand the possible reasons she could be feeling anything other than the excitement that she should be feeling.
Clutching her small pistol tighter she made her way to his room. This was the moment of truth. Little did she know that it was the moment that would decide more than her life, but the lives of many others.
The door was left cracked open so only a pale blue light filtered into the corridor. She expected that he probably knew she was coming. Not to mention what she was coming for.
However, he was prepared to beat her to it.
*****
A man's figure sat comfortably shadowed in the darkness of his office, waiting. At the right moment he stood from his desk. Dorothy had finally come, and it was about time. She had kept him waiting much too long. There was only one way to remedy the problem…
"A drink, Dorothy?" he asked in a low tone.
She let a smirk tilt on side of her mouth. "How very like you never to lose sight of your manners. But it is one of the things I admire the most about you."
"A gentleman never forgets himself in the presence of a woman." He watched her hazy blue eyes narrow with the realization that he purposely did not refer to her as lady. He always had a way of subtly insulting someone while keeping his polite demeanor intact.
"Of course not. And I regret to decline. There are other issues at hand."
He let a glimmer of smile cross his face. "You are absolutely right. Enough of this idle chatter." He reached into his waist coat to pull out a gun of his own, and aimed it straight at her heart.
"I should kill you right now for all you've done. You let the mission fail."
Dorothy pulled out her own gun but kept it at her side. Once she tried to even raise it he could shoot it out her hand. So instead she bowed her head, a rare sign of her accepting defeat. Her shoulders slumped and grip slightly loosened its hold.
He watched her carefully and let his own hand slacken around his gun.
The small click of his finger pulling back from the trigger was when she seized her chance.
Her arm extended so that it was right next to his, level with his own heart. Her glassy eyes narrowed with unconcealed hate. "I do deserve to be killed. But I'll go to hell before I let you be the one to kill me."
*****
"What do you mean she's gone?" A wide-eyed Relena asked. There was no way she could have gotten through the security not only in the hospital, but all around the perimeter.
The nurse shook her head meekly at the stares the five men with Princess Relena were giving her, and repeated what she had said earlier in a small voice.
"She hasn't been seen for over an hour. She must have escaped."
The last bit of information was obvious. The where and the how were the x factors that no one seemed to be able to answer.
Relena thanked the wary nurse who quickly left the small group behind. She looked around her as if trying to glean clues from the surroundings. Absolutely nothing stood out, as Noin had intended.
"We should go check the tapes." That suggestion was from Heero. A very sensible suggestion, and one that had merit. Before they found out not over an hour later that all cameras had been disabled, and the tapes taken. The security in charge of monitoring tied up in a storeroom closet, badly shaken but lucid enough to confirm to them all they needed to know. Noin had left again.
Relena knew this time Milliardo would not let her go that easily. However, there was still an assassin on the loose. One that was potentially a continual threat to both the remaining royal members of the family. All precautions had to be taken when searching for her.
Relena wasn't aware of the fact that her brother understood Noin better than anyone.
He knew she was already gone. He had anticipated the chase even before she left. It gave him a strange thrill to think about it. She probably didn't think he would go after her right away, but he had changed over the two years. Grew into a man accustomed to getting his on way.
This time he would personally make sure of it.
Well, well, well… I did it again. Another cliffhanger. I said there would be action in this chapter and I fibbed a little. There was more action… It's also short again. I can't seem to write long chapters, some kind of mental block in my head. Anyway, I'm slowly deciding where and when to drop those little clues in there. I have to keep it somewhat mysterious or what would happen to the plot? Please review. Have a nice day ^_^