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Tapestry - Chapter 12
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"Oh, honey, I know you took a fall today. Master Treize told me, he did. And please, dear, let me do that - that's what they pay me for. Here - let me set this up right on this table ... "
Mrs. Grimm was puttering around my room, waddling just a little as she set out a marvelously prepared dinner. Not only did it smell wonderful, but it looked wonderful, too. The older woman busied herself taking steaming plates from the trolley pushed into my room and arranging them on the table by the window, chatting the entire time.
"Don't feel embarrassed, dear - Master Treize only told me you fell because he asked me to bring you this aspirin, to help you over some of the - eh - 'discomfort' you'd be feeling." She smiled, her florid face beaming nothing but good will at me. "It's nothing to be ashamed of - not everyone can ride as well as he can."
I was grateful that the only thing I needed to do was smile and nod, as she was providing all the conversation. The fact that we had never met before didn't stop her from talking to me incessantly. Had I been thinking, I would have recognized this tactic as one with a two pronged approach - put your guests at ease, and give them no opportunity to ask questions of their own. Grinding my teeth and reminding myself to smile until my facial muscles ached, I nodded and replied, keeping my tone pleasant and light. "Of course - and I do appreciate your coming up here and bringing my dinner to me, Mrs. Grimm. I'm happy for the company."
She walked over to me, bringing a small bottle and a large glass of water. "Here you are, dear. Make sure you take two of them right now, and two more when you go to bed. You won't feel groggy when you wake up in the morning, I promise."
I smiled at her, still a little miffed that she knew what had happened at all, and took the water and pill bottle. "Thank you so much, Mrs. Grimm -"
"Now, miss, he's not telling folks in general; you can trust Master Treize to be more delicate than that." She pointed at the phone. "Also, if you need me, you just ring. Star 82 is my extension, love - since you're on the house phone now."
"Eh .. yes," I stammered, staring. "I'll remember that - Mrs. Grimm." Right. I was on the house phone now.
Full of good cheer, Mrs. Grimm beamed at me as she pulled the trolley out of the room, watching carefully as she backed her bulk out the door, humming a tuneless little song.
I stared down at the food. Hunger pangs gnawed - suddenly, my stomach decided to remind me now that it hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, and I felt ravenous. But along with that came the illogical idea that I didn't want to accept this food. After all, it came from Treize, and Treize was the enemy, and you can't just accept things from your enemy - maybe the food was drugged, or poisoned, or -
Gads. I sank into the chair by the table and stared out the window. This is stupid, I chided myself. You're hungry. So eat. Had the man wanted you dead, you never would have woken up; and if the food's drugged, there's nothing you can do about it. Don't let your anger get the better of you - he certainly isn't, and nor should you.
Absently, I stuck my hand into the bread basket and found the comfort of warm rolls. I chose one and pulled it apart, watching the steam waft through the air, and nibbled on the larger piece as I stared out the window. Leaning back in the chair, I closed my eyes and tried to relax, at least a little, concentrating on making the cramped muscles in my neck a little looser.
Quiet, discreet knocking pulled my mind away from that idea, though. With a small sigh, I opened my eyes, slowly raised myself out of the chair and padded over to the door.
It was Wufei; and he looked more than elegant. Treize's choice for him that evening was a gorgeous creation in black silk with a golden-orange dragon of incredible intricacy that wound its way around his entire body. He looked regal; not haughty, exactly, but more than - greater than - a normal person. A touch of the exotic, as well - his skin tone, the shape of his eyes, his mouth - all added to his otherworldly appearance. He was singular, rare in my time - and his youth and innocence only added to that allure.
"Oh....Wufei," I breathed, staring at him. "You look absolutely stunning."
"I forgot my hair tie," he said, looking embarrassed. "It's still on your dresser."
His hair was down, hanging softly on either side of his face, and in my opinion, he looked much better with it arranged that way. I also realized, with a little start, that if I saw how much better he looked with his hair unbound, so would Treize. And considering what Treize was trying to do to Wufei ... I didn't think it was wise for Wufei to be seen that way.
"That's a good idea," I said, gesturing toward his tie. "It gives you a more - professional - look - than what you had before. Exactly what you need in front of those people. And - Wufei," I added, watching him, "please don't forget to stop in and see me after dinner, if you can."
"Of course," he replied, distracted, as he finished tying his hair back and frowning at his reflection.
"You look exceptionally handsome in that outfit, Wufei. It makes you appear regal."
He flushed a little, but I could tell he was pleased. He looked at me in the mirror, grave and serious. "Thank you."
"You're quite welcome. Have a good time."
Wufei nodded and sighed as he walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind him. He certainly didn't appear to be happy about going to dinner. On the other hand, he hadn't balked completely at wearing the silk outfit - and according to Treize, this was the first time he actually wore something the general chose for him.
Hmm. I thought about that as I attacked my own dinner- roasted Cornish game hens - quickly separating the meat from the bone. Quite therapeutic, really. It took very little time for me to cut my entree into small, quivering pieces on my plate, and it was eminently satisfying. Especially when I thought about Wufei, in all his innocence, falling under the spell of that man.
Things were happening right in front of me, and there was very little I could do to thwart Treize, let alone stop him. I was not operating from a position of power at all; but then again, I never backed away from a fight. There must be something I could do that would at least help Wufei to see what was happening around him. What I needed to do was find out what that something was.
I frowned and leaned back in my chair, finished with dinner, and stared out the window, not really seeing the landscape. Perhaps I was looking at this in the wrong way. Maybe what I should do is try to itemize the kinds of things you can safely accept from your enemy when you become his prisoner. That might be more to the point, and could possibly be a way of showing Wufei, without having to explicitly tell him, what Treize was doing to him.
Ah. Well, first, you accepted shelter - if "accepted" could be applied here at all. Shelter was necessary for your survival, after all - so even though your enemy deprived you of your freedom, he's obligated to provide some type of shelter for you. Although - and I looked around at my room, dubious - it wasn't necessary for him to provide such opulent surroundings. A cell in some obscure, poorly lit jail would have done just as well. Frankly, I would have felt much more comfortable if Treize had kept me - and, yes, even Wufei - in something like that. Keeping us with him, in this mansion, was just ... odd.
Second - acceptance of food. I had moments of doubt over this, and still felt strange about it. However, it was the same type of issue as the first. Treize wasn't obligated to feed us with the services of professional chefs, but he did. Not only that, I had the uneasy feeling that we ate exactly the same thing that HE did, and ... that was just weird. I was expecting bread and water, and was served Cornish game hens. It threw ideas and opinions I had already formed completely out of whack.
I was so engrossed in my own thoughts that when the new cellphone began to vibrate, it gave me a real, physical jolt.
Gods. I nearly jumped out of my chair. Finally realizing what was making my body shake, I retrieved the phone, flipped the lid up and whispered into the handset. "Hello?"
"Oh, good, you got it!" Duo's voice boomed unnaturally loud in my ear, so much so that I quickly turned the volume down.
"Good to talk to you, too, Duo. Yes - Trowa gave it to me this afternoon, before I went riding."
"Good. Okay. What's going on over there? And shit, that guy needs to die."
Blunt and right to the point as always - but it made me laugh. "Right. I know. But Trowa told me that's not possible now - we can't kill him."
"Yeah, I know. But I can dream, can't I?"
I could almost see him winking at me, cheeky thing that he was, and that made me laugh again, too. Gods ... going from someone as grave as Wufei to someone as irreverent as Duo was refreshing. I continued ticking off things prisoners needed to accept from their captors in my mind as I talked to Duo.
Okay. Item number three - acceptance of the terms of capture. That was necessary for both survival and for planning possible escapes. Treize had Wufei tied up rather nicely on that point, though, I noted with some resentment. It would take me ages to try and untangle what he did over the past month or so.
"Yeah - now listen, Sally. You probably have questions. Feel free to ask 'em. The Prince of Darkness is at dinner now, so we'll probably be able to talk for a little while."
I didn't ask how he knew Treize and Wu were at dinner without me - the way things were, it just seemed natural. For some reason. "Yes - but I can't stay on long, Duo. Wufei's coming back after dinner."
"No problem. We'll be quick. And we'll have time after this, too, if you're careful."
"Okay. First - are we being taken to that island tomorrow?" I snorted slightly, still feeling a little angry and anxious. "And careful? I was careful today, and look what happened -"
"Dunno. It looks like you might be." If I had been able to see him, I knew I'd see him shrug. "..yeah? what happened today?"
"Hmm. I'll tell you in a minute. First, though, I have a question - when you were here, what was going on between Treize and Wufei?"
He surprised me by hissing, right into the phone, like a snake. "Oh, nothing, nothing at ALL ... that rat fucking bastard." I heard him take a deep breath. "Okay. Here's what's going on, as far as I can see - "
This fit right in with my mental list of 'things you can accept from your enemy when captured and still remain uncompromised.' I was now at item four - acceptance of comfort items. Suspicious in the extreme - and neither one of us should accept them without acknowledging the potential risk. I knew I didn't have anything like that - well, except perhaps for those new, strappy shoes - but I wondered what Wufei had that Treize had given him.
"I don't know what his fucking game is. I don't have a clue. It looks, almost, like he's just ... bored, or something. All I know is this." Duo's voice dropped in volume and became conspiratol. "He sat us down, one by one, and talked to us after we were captured. Understand, too, that Wufei was here before we were. It was Quatre, me, Heero ... and Relena. Interviewed us - like we applied for some damn job, or something."
"Probably to see if you could amuse him," I interrupted, sarcastic.
"Yeah, well ... it was something like that," Duo sighed. "All I know is that he started talking about Socrates and other folks who I guess were in the same league. I'd never heard of them - but then, I wasn't in school after six, so there's a lot I never heard of, y'know?"
"Hmmm," I murmured. I could almost see his wry smile.
"He tried to get me to talk to him about what I believed, and crap like that. So ... I told him what he could go do with himself and certain appendages."
"Go on," I laughed, completely amused at the thought of Duo sticking his chin out at Treize and telling him where to put Plato's "Republic."
"Well - anyway. He looked a little disappointed - called the guard - and had me locked up again. Had Relena up there with him for all of five minutes before he sent HER back." Duo snorted again. "Guess SHE wasn't interesting at all. She got all flushed and everything, and wouldn't tell me what he said to her. No big surprise."
"Were you hurt when you spoke with him?"
There was a moment of silence as Duo thought. "A little," he finally said. "Got roughed up when I was captured, you know. No biggie. Why?"
"Ah. I was just trying to verify something that was said to me." I chuckled once, humorless. "Not that I don't trust everyone, that is ..."
"Yeah. You can trust what he says." Duo gave one short bark of derisive laughter. "'Course, it's got more than one meaning. Everything he says has more than one meaning. It's like talking to six different people at once. Anyway - things got a little weird when Wufei came to see me, down in the cells. Wu was really worried about us - see, when they were dragging us through the hallway, he was there, just watching them. He thought - geez, I don't even know what he thought." Duo sighed again, an audible exhale. "He hauled me upstairs with him, cleaned me up, and ... well ... it was weird. I stayed another day with him, and then - then Treize let me escape."
It sounded as though there was a lot more behind what he said, but I let it go. For now. "Anything else happen?"
"Well ... yeah." He definitely seemed less happy, and it sounded as if he was moving around the room before he answered. "Look - I like Woofie, you know? He's a good kid. A little dense - cocky as hell - but I like him. Thing is, though, it looks like Treize likes him, too, and not in a good way."
Those words chilled me. Involuntarily, I turned in my chair and glanced at the door, to make sure it was closed. Gods - if it's been going on since Duo was here, it must have been going on from the first day Wufei was imprisoned. "Yes - I know," I replied heavily. "And Wufei doesn't know. He doesn't have a clue - no understanding about anything."
Now it sounded as if Duo was fidgeting on the other end of the line. "Yeah. I know. Wu's smarter than I am. He's smarter than all of us, in some ways. He's got more education, too, even more than Quatre. Problem is, though, he's really not street smart. He can't see this - can't see his way past some odd sense of 'honor' toward Treize."
"Yes," I agreed, sighing.
"I dunno what's up with that - he never told me. Trowa's got a good handle on it. All I know is that I snuck out of his room that night to watch 'em 'duel' - you know, where Treize says he gives Wufei the chance to kill him? Well - I know Wu's not dumb - but the looks he was getting and the way Treize was touching him got my hackles all on edge." He snarled now, angry. "I've BEEN touched that way. It sucks. No one should have to get touched that way, especially when they don't know what the fuck's going on."
Stunned, I listened to Duo confirm my worst fears. "Listen - Duo," I said rapidly. "If we don't get him away from Treize, and soon, we're never going to get him away from here at all."
Duo was silent for a moment. "Whadd'ya mean - 'never?'"
"I'm trying to push him - and I think it's working, I don't know - but there's so much working against me that I'm afraid he's going to be lost if he stays around Treize much longer."
"Whadd'ya MEAN, lost?" Duo's voice became intense. "I had a bad feeling about it. I called Treize on it, too."
"I mean exactly what I said," I repeated, my voice becoming louder and more strident. "We have to get Wufei away from him, or else-"
"Don't do that, Sally." He sounded a little embarrassed. "He - Treize doesn't like it. Keep your temper, if you can."
I stopped. "Okay," I said, taking a deep breath.
Duo sighed. "Look. Wu's pretty resistant to whatever Treize is doing - but I think that's half the draw. See - I'm resistant just 'cause I didn't listen to him - and even if I did, I wouldn't get half of what he was saying. It's not smarts he's looking for, though. Lots of people are educated, lots of people are stubborn, lots of people are naive, and a few are dangerous. Wufei, though, is different. He's going to hold out as long as he thinks he should - that's the thing with him." He sighed again. "Treize .... can get to you if you stay with him. I don't care HOW you feel. He can get under your skin. But he can only get under some people's skin if they let him. Wu's one of those."
"I know, Duo. I'll do my best to protect him - but I can't do anything overt. I'm a prisoner here, too."
"Right - I know that, Sall. Whatever you do, though, don't call him on it directly. It's a bad idea ... okay? He gives you this really spooky grin, and then ... things happen."
Feh. "I fell off my horse today, Duo. I was riding in the woods - and there was this rabid wolf that attacked me when I was a good ways in. Fortunately, Treize was off to the side somewhere, and shot the wolf. Unfortunately for me, my horse was completely spooked by the wolf AND the shot, so he threw me to the ground and ran back for the barn." I grimaced at the remains of my dinner. "Treize - he picked me up off the ground, stuck me on HIS horse ... and then swung up behind me. I had to ride back to the house with him."
"...geez..." Duo murmured.
"But I'm still alive and talking to you tonight. At least for now," I said sourly. "As long as I behave."
I heard Duo's low sigh. "Okay. Has he - has he talked to you yet? Or ... What's he done to indicate how he feels toward you? He usually makes his dislikes pretty damned clear..."
I chucked. Oh, this WAS funny. "He's put a phone in my room just tonight - and told me he doesn't want to 'regret' having doing that."
"Well - yeah. A caution to be careful. It's probably tapped, too, but don't let that get to you."
"He also ... spoke to me after we got back from that 'ride.'" I shifted uncomfortably in my chair, still feeling the aches and bruises from my fall and seeing the even more disquieting look in Treize's eyes as he held me down on the bed.
"Oh? What did he say?"
"It was more of a warning than anything else ... really. I knew I shouldn't have been in the woods, but I went there, anyway - so he basically told me that if I did anything like that again, the results could be ... 'possibly devastating.'" I shuddered, remembering. "He also said that he wouldn't take advantage of me, because - because I wasn't his 'type.'"
Duo paused. "Ow," he said after a moment. "The King of Smooth aims low. Sorry about that .... although, actually, I'm NOT -"
"Yes," I said, laughing a little, nervous and relieved at the same time. "Hit me where it really hurts. That's okay, though. There are definite advantages to not being his type."
"Well, yeah. It means he won't try to schmooze you," Duo said. "But on the other hand, it also means he's not really going to care so much how you're doing except in how it affects his current plans. This guy has no conscience at all, I swear. Has he asked you any kind of questions?"
"Questions?" I wondered. "Well ... last night he asked me all sorts of questions. I was pretty tired - and he said he wanted to hear my side of the story."
"What'd you say?"
"Hmph," I huffed, anger sparking again at the memory. "He wanted to know MY story - why I did what I did, and all that. I told him that the lawyer he hired to defend me must've told my story to the jury. And that was all. I didn't say anything else to him about it."
"That's not so bad," Duo said thoughtfully. "Did he ask you anything else?"
"Ah .. I can't remember exactly, Duo. He kept me talking for an awfully long time about a lot of different things, but nothing specific. He said more than once, though, that Wufei thought I was very important - and he told me he had no idea I was so influential." I repressed a little shudder at that memory, too. That one hit a little too close to home for my comfort.
"Hmm. Then you may still be in the testing period. This is good, Sall - because he hasn't lost interest, and Wufei needs someone else to talk to. You're the only other person Wu talks to besides Trowa, y'know. You do know that - right?"
"...what?" I asked, confused. "No, Duo ... I had no idea ..." I was the only other person Wufei spoke with? Other than Trowa?
"Yep, you and Trowa. That's it for Wu's social life. He never talks to anybody else. Told Trowa God knows what. And now I think he's talking to Treize, but he's more surprised into it, y'know?"
"I know that. Treize is hard not to slip with." I sighed again. "I - I'm afraid of him, Duo."
"You should be. I don't envy you at all. Look, Sall. I don't mean to beat this thing into the ground. But .. it's like ... he's already won the world, and he's getting bored with it. I don't know what he's going to do next, but I don't think he's going to sit. It's almost like he focusing on Wu because there isn't much else he hasn't conquered."
"Do you think - do you think he's going to head to the colonies?" I asked in trepidation.
"Gods. I don't know, Sall. I don't even know why he still has YOU there. It doesn't make much sense, but ... eh. Maybe he'll keep you around."
Ugh. "Ah .. yes. Probably until he gets annoyed enough with me that he'll literally feed me to the starving wolves outside."
"Nah. Doubt that. He doesn't kill when he doesn't have to. I don't get that either, but it's true. Even I'm alive, and I have no reason to be."
"At any rate," I said, "he seems to delight in control."
"Yeah. He does." Duo sounded distracted, preoccupied.
"...and?" I prompted.
There was a long pause. "This is going to sound silly."
"Hardly. It can't be any sillier than anything else that's happened so far."
Duo hesitated. "No, Sall. But it is. I feel like I'm a kid, having a nightmare ..."
"We all are. It's the same one."
"Yeah, but ..." He sighed again and plunged. "I dunno. Sometimes it seems like he's hardly human. He's certainly nothing like what I ever thought Treize Khushrenada was like. Almost as if - as if he was an alien, or a demon, or something, and ... and he was just playing with all of us." An embarrassed silence followed his little speech. "Maybe."
I was silent for a moment, absorbing what he said. "Listen ... Duo," I said, calm and quiet. "It doesn't sound stupid at all. I've only known Khushrenada from his broadcasts, and ... really ... this person I'm with right now bears very little resemblance to him. He's cold, and calculating, and so controlling ... Even some of the people I knew in the service, tough as they were - if you put them against Khushrenada, they wouldn't last two minutes." I laughed a little, again more from nervousness than anything else. "I don't know about him being an alien or a demon, Duo. I think I'd believe the alien part before the demon part - I tend to think from more of a scientific view than anything else. But I will tell you this." I shifted in my chair again, staring out at the now darkened landscape. The sun had set while we were talking; now I felt like a young girl, back in Beijing, awake after a particularly frightening dream. "When Treize warned me - he was staring at me like a hungry lion - and the only thing I could think of was that I was just lucky he was not inclined to eat me."
Breathing deeply, I continued. "I've been in many different battles, Duo - as a doctor, as a commander - but this battle is more exhausting than any of those. I feel that one more misstep - one more error, one small mistake - and something terrible will happen. Everything will come crashing down on me."
"Not necessarily," Duo put in quickly. "I think we actually have an advantage here, Sall. You gotta understand Treize's temperament - if the whole thing crashes, he doesn't have a game, and he WANTS his damned game. One misstep won't necessarily be it. Getting in his way when he really wants something might - but one misstep wouldn't do it. Trust me." He chuckled, a dark sound. "I made plenty, and I'm not dead. And he put you back in the game."
"Right," I murmured. "He put me back ... so it could continue."
"You got it. If he didn't do that a little, there's be no game. He's even doing that with Wu - dragging it out, I mean. That's what made me think he was something - well, something more than human. It's like he's SO bored he has to resort to playing with dull humans - which is why people like Wu really catch his interest. Wu's ... different, somehow. I dunno how, exactly, but he is. Everything about him is different."
"There's nothing we can do now, is there? We just have to go along with whatever he has in mind, and watch, and wait ..."
"Yeah. It sucks, but ... pretty much, that's what we hafta do. Just - just try to get to watch them together as much as you can. It'll give you some ground to talk to Wu. Know what I mean?"
"I do. Really, I do. I'm trying to get through to him, too, but it's har-"
There was a noise in the corridor, coming close to my room. Fortunately, the room was dark - I hadn't bothered to turn on the lights while I was eating, and now I was out of the chair, leaping toward the bathroom. Duo was still talking in my ear.
" - it's hard 'cause he doesn't really have a BASE to understand ... I mean, I know I'm just talking from MY experience, 'cause I've ... uh ... enjoyed life a little more than-"
"Duo, someone's coming," I hissed urgently, frantic to find a hiding place for the phone.
"Shit. Go."
Slamming the cover, I yanked open the narrow linen closet in the bathroom and shoved the phone back in the towels as far as I could. Then I turned on the water for the shower full blast, ripped my clothes off and left them in a heap on the floor and jumped into the shower, sticking my head under the spray, heedless of the water temperature.
Gods, was I lucky I erred on the side of cold water when I twisted the knobs.
I heard a pounding on my door. "Just a moment," I called, pushing the shower door open a little. I turned the water off, wrapped my body in one huge towel and my hair in another, and padded out to answer the door.
Cautiously, I opened the door and peeked around the edge. No one was there. I looked up and down the hallway, and there was no one there, either.
Looking down, I saw a note on the floor with my name written in Mandarin. I picked it up and opened it:
"Stopped by - you're busy. Gone to duel with Treize. Wufei."
Gads. I slumped a little and looked toward the training rooms. Well, Duo HAD said I should watch them together as much as I could. Damn, damn, damn.
It took me five minutes to dress in the other outfit left for me - the soft gi - retrieve the phone from the closet, and stow it again. Treize handling me as much as he did - as in, sweeping me up and carrying me as if I was a child - now made me nervous about keeping the phone on me, but I was MORE nervous about leaving it behind. That was a sure way to get caught.
Leaving the remains of my dinner on the table and scooping up my room key from the dresser, I padded softly out of the room and made my way down the hallway toward the training room.
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A soft, shushing sound floated toward me from the training room, followed by several unintelligible shouts. It sounded to me as if they were going at it harder than they had this morning.
This morning, I thought as I hurried toward the room, happened at least one hundred years ago. At least, that's what it felt like.
Moonlight streamed through the windows, casting long, irregular shadows. It was bright tonight - the moon was full - but it still gave an eerie, almost supernatural cast to everything it touched.
The shouting was louder and more frequent. Now I could hear the rasping of metal on metal, as well. Fear made my feet fly down the corridor, while prudence made my tread as light as possible. As I reached the doorway a familiar feeling clawed its way through me, causing my breath to come in short pants and my heart to beat nearly twice its regular pace. I wasn't simply afraid that Wufei would get hurt; there was some other unmentionable dread that wrapped itself around my reason and caused me to fixate on Wufei. Something was going to happen to him tonight, and the only thing I could do was watch - and pick up the pieces later.
Silently, I padded to the doorway and looked in. Fast, dark shadows were blurring across the floor. Moonlight filtering through windows close to the ceiling helped my vision; I could see surprisingly well, given the hour and the fact that there were no lights on in the facility at all.
The weapons were knives, again - but this time, they were long knives, longer than the morning's duel, and Wufei had two of them. Treize was the larger shadow. He had taken off his shirt, but he didn't look to be perspiring in the least. Wufei, though, had changed to an outfit of all white. He hadn't taken his tunic off, but it was slashed open across his chest, giving the same effect. He didn't seem to be bleeding, but it obviously came rather close to it.
Their tempo was fiercer than the morning; and it was odd, but the longer I watched, the more convinced I became that Treize did that to Wufei on purpose - although why he would do that, I couldn't fathom. If that were true, that would mean he deliberately came within scant millimeters of Wufei's chest while both men were moving. But that would be nonsense, I thought, squinting through the gloom at them. To come that close, on purpose, in the dark, when they were both moving so fast it was difficult to follow their actions? No one could be that precise.
Wufei shouted again, his attention completely focused on his opponent, sidestepped and thrust quickly, ignoring the way his tunic flapped around his waist. He snarled when he failed to connect and spun around to face Treize again, his guard up. I took that opportunity to slide into the room, and stepped back deeper into the shadows of one corner, praying that neither one of them noticed me.
I shouldn't have worried. It was obvious after just a few moments of observation that they could only see each other, that the rest of the room - and the world - had faded to nothingness compared to what was in front of their eyes. I watched, fascinated in spite of myself, just as the prey of the cobra is fascinated with the snake's graceful dance before the snake strikes - and realized something else, something that, given the context, was frightening.
Treize was playing with Wufei.
Oh, there was danger for both of them, all right - should one or the other become careless and neglect the tiniest part of their guard, the other would definitely pounce. In that respect, they were evenly matched. But unlike the morning's workout, where Treize had used his greater size and weight to his advantage, he wasn't doing that now - meaning that he could still end this bought any time he wanted. Apparently, he did not WANT to do that, and was content - doing what? Baiting him? Playing a cat and mouse game with Wufei?
It was completely ironic - for as I watched, Wufei became absolutely wild. He glared at Treize, his teeth were bared, and his entire attention was centered directly on the man in front of him. It was frightening and thrilling, at the same time, to watch - Wufei was turning into the warrior of his people right in front of my eyes. His savagery had reached new heights tonight, and his reactions appeared to be instinctual. Not carefully thought out, as they had previously been, but rapid-fire, snapping thrusts and jabs, all designed to disembowel or dismember his foe.
A change rippled across Treize; before I knew it, he had decided to use his superior size and strength to bring this match to a close. I realized I had been wrong - again - when I assumed that because Treize was taller and heavier he couldn't possibly be as fast as Wufei.
Oh, yes, I was wrong. So very wrong. Treize was faster, by far.
Without warning, Treize slammed into Wufei, thrusting him away from the middle of the floor and smacking him into the far wall, one knife clattering uselessly to the floor. He pinned him there, too, his arm draped across Wufei's collarbone with all his weight leaning into the boy. For a moment, Wufei struggled against him; but immediately went limp when he found he couldn't dislodge that arm, his eyes blazing their defiance into Treize's. But Treize kept staring down into Wufei's face, and while I couldn't see the general's expression, I could certainly see Wufei's. He went from passionately angry, gasping for breath - to slightly confused - and then to something that wasn't scared, exactly, but fairly close to it ...
Now I needed strength, because it felt as though my heart had just leaped into my throat. I knew that whatever was going to happen between them was going to happen NOW, and I wasn't sure how much I could take. Part of me was coiled to spring to Wufei's defense, should he need help; another part watched the pair in horrified fascination; and yet a third part of me laughed at my puny efforts to 'save' Wufei from Treize, given what I had just seen take place.
Right, dear. Your puny efforts and your gun might have given you that one in a million chance needed to kill the bastard; but even so, you can't kill the bastard. You're not very fast, anyway, and you don't have your gun anymore, so just stop dreaming. It's not going to happen today.
Treize still held Wufei against the wall with one arm. With his free hand, he casually raised the long knife, put the point against Wufei's stomach and oh so slowly drew the tip up and up, farther and farther on his body - across Wufei's stomach, over his chest, and finally traced his collarbone almost lovingly, with a great deal of sensuality and tenderness.
Wufei was gazing right into Treize's eyes as the general dragged the knife across his skin. It never left a mark; not even a white trail to indicate where it had been. He was as mesmerized as a deer in front of a predator; his mouth was slightly open and his eyes were wide, staring at Treize.
Treize's voice was low and resonant, carrying to every corner of the room. Leaning even closer to Wufei, breathing right into his face, he murmured, "I ... win."
And abruptly pulled his arm away from Wufei, dropping him to the floor like a stone.
Wufei landed on his feet; but that was about it for any thinking processes. He stood and gaped at Treize, leaning against the wall for support.
Treize, meanwhile was back to 'normal' - he took his own knife, picked up Wufei's, and returned them both to the weapons cabinet with a cheery whistle, not looking at Wufei at all.
I shrank back into the shadows as far as humanly possible. My palms were sweating; there was no way in the WORLD that I wanted Treize, or even Wufei, to know I was there.
After closing the cabinet, Treize turned toward Wufei and appeared to remember something. He walked over to the boy and gently removed the last knife from his hand. Wufei had stayed in place the entire time, staring at Treize, but when the older man's hand brushed his, he leaped back as if scalded. Treize ignored that reaction, turned his back as if he didn't see it, and put that knife away as well.
Wufei wasn't saying a word. He was still staring at Treize and panting as if he had run several miles.
Treize locked the weapons cabinet, put the key in his pocket, retrieved his shirt from the floor, and walked out of the room. Thankfully, he used another pair of doors - not the doors near my hiding place, if you could call it that.
I stayed in place another full ten seconds, just to make sure he was really gone. Wufei hadn't moved a muscle since Treize touched him. He stared after the general, his mouth working a little.
That was enough. I swiftly walked across the room to Wufei, who was now leaning against the wall, his hand tracing the path Treize's knife had taken on his skin.
"Wufei ... Wufei, it's me -"
Without warning, he whirled around and thrust his face close to mine, only centimeters away. "NOTHING HAPPENED!"
I pulled back a little, then put my arm out and rested my hand on his shoulder. "I know, Wufei. You left me a note, telling me you were going to duel. I came down to see you."
He nodded a little, but was back to touching his chest and collarbone. I could tell he was completely distraught; I doubted very much if he had EVER been touched like that. Considering he had only been with his wife once and they weren't really friendly with each other, I didn't see that there would have been any opportunity for play like that.
"Come on, Wufei. Let's go back to your room. You can shower there, and change."
His legs gave out underneath him, and he slumped to the floor, dazed and defeated.
Gods. I dropped to the floor with him, earnestly appealing to any shred of consciousness I found. "Wufei. Please, get up and let's go back. You can't stay here on the training room floor."
He looked up at me as if he had forgotten I was there.
"Wufei ... please. Do come back with me."
After a moment's hesitation, he muttered, "All ... right ..."
This time, he didn't pull away from me. He allowed me to gently tug him to his feet, and then walked with me, as docile as I had ever seen him, out the door and down the hallway to his room. I felt paranoid as we made our way there, imagining Treize was watching us walk back to his room - but that was ridiculous, because I saw him leave through the other door, which didn't lead to this hallway at all ...
Wufei seemed to be more in shock than anything else; he was trembling a little.
I opened the door to Wufei's room and helped him inside. I saw, on his dresser, a single red rose - and didn't process what that meant. In fact, I really didn't WANT to process what that meant, so .. my mind refused the input. It was pretty good at not acknowledging what it didn't want to see and ignoring information right in front of me. Too much information here, I told myself. You'll melt down if you're not careful.
"Wufei - Wufei, you should take a shower before you go to bed. You'll feel better."
He gave no resistance; walked into the bathroom when requested, stripped down when asked, and strode into the shower when directed. When the water hit him, though, he started to come back to himself; he realized I was in the room, but didn't realize he was naked in the shower. Wufei stuck his head out the door and looked at me, confusion uppermost in his mind.
"What ... did he do?"
"I'll tell you when you're out of the shower, Wufei," I said, gentle and firm. "Right now, you just concentrate on getting clean. I'm going to put another outfit in here for you to wear, and I'm going to call Mrs. Grimm and have some tea brought up for us."
"I didn't DO anything," he said with a frown, pulling his head back from the door and into the spray.
"Yes... I know, Wufei. I know." I walked out of the bathroom and into the main room, sighing as I dialed Mrs. Grimm's number.
Tapestry - Chapter 12
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"Oh, honey, I know you took a fall today. Master Treize told me, he did. And please, dear, let me do that - that's what they pay me for. Here - let me set this up right on this table ... "
Mrs. Grimm was puttering around my room, waddling just a little as she set out a marvelously prepared dinner. Not only did it smell wonderful, but it looked wonderful, too. The older woman busied herself taking steaming plates from the trolley pushed into my room and arranging them on the table by the window, chatting the entire time.
"Don't feel embarrassed, dear - Master Treize only told me you fell because he asked me to bring you this aspirin, to help you over some of the - eh - 'discomfort' you'd be feeling." She smiled, her florid face beaming nothing but good will at me. "It's nothing to be ashamed of - not everyone can ride as well as he can."
I was grateful that the only thing I needed to do was smile and nod, as she was providing all the conversation. The fact that we had never met before didn't stop her from talking to me incessantly. Had I been thinking, I would have recognized this tactic as one with a two pronged approach - put your guests at ease, and give them no opportunity to ask questions of their own. Grinding my teeth and reminding myself to smile until my facial muscles ached, I nodded and replied, keeping my tone pleasant and light. "Of course - and I do appreciate your coming up here and bringing my dinner to me, Mrs. Grimm. I'm happy for the company."
She walked over to me, bringing a small bottle and a large glass of water. "Here you are, dear. Make sure you take two of them right now, and two more when you go to bed. You won't feel groggy when you wake up in the morning, I promise."
I smiled at her, still a little miffed that she knew what had happened at all, and took the water and pill bottle. "Thank you so much, Mrs. Grimm -"
"Now, miss, he's not telling folks in general; you can trust Master Treize to be more delicate than that." She pointed at the phone. "Also, if you need me, you just ring. Star 82 is my extension, love - since you're on the house phone now."
"Eh .. yes," I stammered, staring. "I'll remember that - Mrs. Grimm." Right. I was on the house phone now.
Full of good cheer, Mrs. Grimm beamed at me as she pulled the trolley out of the room, watching carefully as she backed her bulk out the door, humming a tuneless little song.
I stared down at the food. Hunger pangs gnawed - suddenly, my stomach decided to remind me now that it hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, and I felt ravenous. But along with that came the illogical idea that I didn't want to accept this food. After all, it came from Treize, and Treize was the enemy, and you can't just accept things from your enemy - maybe the food was drugged, or poisoned, or -
Gads. I sank into the chair by the table and stared out the window. This is stupid, I chided myself. You're hungry. So eat. Had the man wanted you dead, you never would have woken up; and if the food's drugged, there's nothing you can do about it. Don't let your anger get the better of you - he certainly isn't, and nor should you.
Absently, I stuck my hand into the bread basket and found the comfort of warm rolls. I chose one and pulled it apart, watching the steam waft through the air, and nibbled on the larger piece as I stared out the window. Leaning back in the chair, I closed my eyes and tried to relax, at least a little, concentrating on making the cramped muscles in my neck a little looser.
Quiet, discreet knocking pulled my mind away from that idea, though. With a small sigh, I opened my eyes, slowly raised myself out of the chair and padded over to the door.
It was Wufei; and he looked more than elegant. Treize's choice for him that evening was a gorgeous creation in black silk with a golden-orange dragon of incredible intricacy that wound its way around his entire body. He looked regal; not haughty, exactly, but more than - greater than - a normal person. A touch of the exotic, as well - his skin tone, the shape of his eyes, his mouth - all added to his otherworldly appearance. He was singular, rare in my time - and his youth and innocence only added to that allure.
"Oh....Wufei," I breathed, staring at him. "You look absolutely stunning."
"I forgot my hair tie," he said, looking embarrassed. "It's still on your dresser."
His hair was down, hanging softly on either side of his face, and in my opinion, he looked much better with it arranged that way. I also realized, with a little start, that if I saw how much better he looked with his hair unbound, so would Treize. And considering what Treize was trying to do to Wufei ... I didn't think it was wise for Wufei to be seen that way.
"That's a good idea," I said, gesturing toward his tie. "It gives you a more - professional - look - than what you had before. Exactly what you need in front of those people. And - Wufei," I added, watching him, "please don't forget to stop in and see me after dinner, if you can."
"Of course," he replied, distracted, as he finished tying his hair back and frowning at his reflection.
"You look exceptionally handsome in that outfit, Wufei. It makes you appear regal."
He flushed a little, but I could tell he was pleased. He looked at me in the mirror, grave and serious. "Thank you."
"You're quite welcome. Have a good time."
Wufei nodded and sighed as he walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind him. He certainly didn't appear to be happy about going to dinner. On the other hand, he hadn't balked completely at wearing the silk outfit - and according to Treize, this was the first time he actually wore something the general chose for him.
Hmm. I thought about that as I attacked my own dinner- roasted Cornish game hens - quickly separating the meat from the bone. Quite therapeutic, really. It took very little time for me to cut my entree into small, quivering pieces on my plate, and it was eminently satisfying. Especially when I thought about Wufei, in all his innocence, falling under the spell of that man.
Things were happening right in front of me, and there was very little I could do to thwart Treize, let alone stop him. I was not operating from a position of power at all; but then again, I never backed away from a fight. There must be something I could do that would at least help Wufei to see what was happening around him. What I needed to do was find out what that something was.
I frowned and leaned back in my chair, finished with dinner, and stared out the window, not really seeing the landscape. Perhaps I was looking at this in the wrong way. Maybe what I should do is try to itemize the kinds of things you can safely accept from your enemy when you become his prisoner. That might be more to the point, and could possibly be a way of showing Wufei, without having to explicitly tell him, what Treize was doing to him.
Ah. Well, first, you accepted shelter - if "accepted" could be applied here at all. Shelter was necessary for your survival, after all - so even though your enemy deprived you of your freedom, he's obligated to provide some type of shelter for you. Although - and I looked around at my room, dubious - it wasn't necessary for him to provide such opulent surroundings. A cell in some obscure, poorly lit jail would have done just as well. Frankly, I would have felt much more comfortable if Treize had kept me - and, yes, even Wufei - in something like that. Keeping us with him, in this mansion, was just ... odd.
Second - acceptance of food. I had moments of doubt over this, and still felt strange about it. However, it was the same type of issue as the first. Treize wasn't obligated to feed us with the services of professional chefs, but he did. Not only that, I had the uneasy feeling that we ate exactly the same thing that HE did, and ... that was just weird. I was expecting bread and water, and was served Cornish game hens. It threw ideas and opinions I had already formed completely out of whack.
I was so engrossed in my own thoughts that when the new cellphone began to vibrate, it gave me a real, physical jolt.
Gods. I nearly jumped out of my chair. Finally realizing what was making my body shake, I retrieved the phone, flipped the lid up and whispered into the handset. "Hello?"
"Oh, good, you got it!" Duo's voice boomed unnaturally loud in my ear, so much so that I quickly turned the volume down.
"Good to talk to you, too, Duo. Yes - Trowa gave it to me this afternoon, before I went riding."
"Good. Okay. What's going on over there? And shit, that guy needs to die."
Blunt and right to the point as always - but it made me laugh. "Right. I know. But Trowa told me that's not possible now - we can't kill him."
"Yeah, I know. But I can dream, can't I?"
I could almost see him winking at me, cheeky thing that he was, and that made me laugh again, too. Gods ... going from someone as grave as Wufei to someone as irreverent as Duo was refreshing. I continued ticking off things prisoners needed to accept from their captors in my mind as I talked to Duo.
Okay. Item number three - acceptance of the terms of capture. That was necessary for both survival and for planning possible escapes. Treize had Wufei tied up rather nicely on that point, though, I noted with some resentment. It would take me ages to try and untangle what he did over the past month or so.
"Yeah - now listen, Sally. You probably have questions. Feel free to ask 'em. The Prince of Darkness is at dinner now, so we'll probably be able to talk for a little while."
I didn't ask how he knew Treize and Wu were at dinner without me - the way things were, it just seemed natural. For some reason. "Yes - but I can't stay on long, Duo. Wufei's coming back after dinner."
"No problem. We'll be quick. And we'll have time after this, too, if you're careful."
"Okay. First - are we being taken to that island tomorrow?" I snorted slightly, still feeling a little angry and anxious. "And careful? I was careful today, and look what happened -"
"Dunno. It looks like you might be." If I had been able to see him, I knew I'd see him shrug. "..yeah? what happened today?"
"Hmm. I'll tell you in a minute. First, though, I have a question - when you were here, what was going on between Treize and Wufei?"
He surprised me by hissing, right into the phone, like a snake. "Oh, nothing, nothing at ALL ... that rat fucking bastard." I heard him take a deep breath. "Okay. Here's what's going on, as far as I can see - "
This fit right in with my mental list of 'things you can accept from your enemy when captured and still remain uncompromised.' I was now at item four - acceptance of comfort items. Suspicious in the extreme - and neither one of us should accept them without acknowledging the potential risk. I knew I didn't have anything like that - well, except perhaps for those new, strappy shoes - but I wondered what Wufei had that Treize had given him.
"I don't know what his fucking game is. I don't have a clue. It looks, almost, like he's just ... bored, or something. All I know is this." Duo's voice dropped in volume and became conspiratol. "He sat us down, one by one, and talked to us after we were captured. Understand, too, that Wufei was here before we were. It was Quatre, me, Heero ... and Relena. Interviewed us - like we applied for some damn job, or something."
"Probably to see if you could amuse him," I interrupted, sarcastic.
"Yeah, well ... it was something like that," Duo sighed. "All I know is that he started talking about Socrates and other folks who I guess were in the same league. I'd never heard of them - but then, I wasn't in school after six, so there's a lot I never heard of, y'know?"
"Hmmm," I murmured. I could almost see his wry smile.
"He tried to get me to talk to him about what I believed, and crap like that. So ... I told him what he could go do with himself and certain appendages."
"Go on," I laughed, completely amused at the thought of Duo sticking his chin out at Treize and telling him where to put Plato's "Republic."
"Well - anyway. He looked a little disappointed - called the guard - and had me locked up again. Had Relena up there with him for all of five minutes before he sent HER back." Duo snorted again. "Guess SHE wasn't interesting at all. She got all flushed and everything, and wouldn't tell me what he said to her. No big surprise."
"Were you hurt when you spoke with him?"
There was a moment of silence as Duo thought. "A little," he finally said. "Got roughed up when I was captured, you know. No biggie. Why?"
"Ah. I was just trying to verify something that was said to me." I chuckled once, humorless. "Not that I don't trust everyone, that is ..."
"Yeah. You can trust what he says." Duo gave one short bark of derisive laughter. "'Course, it's got more than one meaning. Everything he says has more than one meaning. It's like talking to six different people at once. Anyway - things got a little weird when Wufei came to see me, down in the cells. Wu was really worried about us - see, when they were dragging us through the hallway, he was there, just watching them. He thought - geez, I don't even know what he thought." Duo sighed again, an audible exhale. "He hauled me upstairs with him, cleaned me up, and ... well ... it was weird. I stayed another day with him, and then - then Treize let me escape."
It sounded as though there was a lot more behind what he said, but I let it go. For now. "Anything else happen?"
"Well ... yeah." He definitely seemed less happy, and it sounded as if he was moving around the room before he answered. "Look - I like Woofie, you know? He's a good kid. A little dense - cocky as hell - but I like him. Thing is, though, it looks like Treize likes him, too, and not in a good way."
Those words chilled me. Involuntarily, I turned in my chair and glanced at the door, to make sure it was closed. Gods - if it's been going on since Duo was here, it must have been going on from the first day Wufei was imprisoned. "Yes - I know," I replied heavily. "And Wufei doesn't know. He doesn't have a clue - no understanding about anything."
Now it sounded as if Duo was fidgeting on the other end of the line. "Yeah. I know. Wu's smarter than I am. He's smarter than all of us, in some ways. He's got more education, too, even more than Quatre. Problem is, though, he's really not street smart. He can't see this - can't see his way past some odd sense of 'honor' toward Treize."
"Yes," I agreed, sighing.
"I dunno what's up with that - he never told me. Trowa's got a good handle on it. All I know is that I snuck out of his room that night to watch 'em 'duel' - you know, where Treize says he gives Wufei the chance to kill him? Well - I know Wu's not dumb - but the looks he was getting and the way Treize was touching him got my hackles all on edge." He snarled now, angry. "I've BEEN touched that way. It sucks. No one should have to get touched that way, especially when they don't know what the fuck's going on."
Stunned, I listened to Duo confirm my worst fears. "Listen - Duo," I said rapidly. "If we don't get him away from Treize, and soon, we're never going to get him away from here at all."
Duo was silent for a moment. "Whadd'ya mean - 'never?'"
"I'm trying to push him - and I think it's working, I don't know - but there's so much working against me that I'm afraid he's going to be lost if he stays around Treize much longer."
"Whadd'ya MEAN, lost?" Duo's voice became intense. "I had a bad feeling about it. I called Treize on it, too."
"I mean exactly what I said," I repeated, my voice becoming louder and more strident. "We have to get Wufei away from him, or else-"
"Don't do that, Sally." He sounded a little embarrassed. "He - Treize doesn't like it. Keep your temper, if you can."
I stopped. "Okay," I said, taking a deep breath.
Duo sighed. "Look. Wu's pretty resistant to whatever Treize is doing - but I think that's half the draw. See - I'm resistant just 'cause I didn't listen to him - and even if I did, I wouldn't get half of what he was saying. It's not smarts he's looking for, though. Lots of people are educated, lots of people are stubborn, lots of people are naive, and a few are dangerous. Wufei, though, is different. He's going to hold out as long as he thinks he should - that's the thing with him." He sighed again. "Treize .... can get to you if you stay with him. I don't care HOW you feel. He can get under your skin. But he can only get under some people's skin if they let him. Wu's one of those."
"I know, Duo. I'll do my best to protect him - but I can't do anything overt. I'm a prisoner here, too."
"Right - I know that, Sall. Whatever you do, though, don't call him on it directly. It's a bad idea ... okay? He gives you this really spooky grin, and then ... things happen."
Feh. "I fell off my horse today, Duo. I was riding in the woods - and there was this rabid wolf that attacked me when I was a good ways in. Fortunately, Treize was off to the side somewhere, and shot the wolf. Unfortunately for me, my horse was completely spooked by the wolf AND the shot, so he threw me to the ground and ran back for the barn." I grimaced at the remains of my dinner. "Treize - he picked me up off the ground, stuck me on HIS horse ... and then swung up behind me. I had to ride back to the house with him."
"...geez..." Duo murmured.
"But I'm still alive and talking to you tonight. At least for now," I said sourly. "As long as I behave."
I heard Duo's low sigh. "Okay. Has he - has he talked to you yet? Or ... What's he done to indicate how he feels toward you? He usually makes his dislikes pretty damned clear..."
I chucked. Oh, this WAS funny. "He's put a phone in my room just tonight - and told me he doesn't want to 'regret' having doing that."
"Well - yeah. A caution to be careful. It's probably tapped, too, but don't let that get to you."
"He also ... spoke to me after we got back from that 'ride.'" I shifted uncomfortably in my chair, still feeling the aches and bruises from my fall and seeing the even more disquieting look in Treize's eyes as he held me down on the bed.
"Oh? What did he say?"
"It was more of a warning than anything else ... really. I knew I shouldn't have been in the woods, but I went there, anyway - so he basically told me that if I did anything like that again, the results could be ... 'possibly devastating.'" I shuddered, remembering. "He also said that he wouldn't take advantage of me, because - because I wasn't his 'type.'"
Duo paused. "Ow," he said after a moment. "The King of Smooth aims low. Sorry about that .... although, actually, I'm NOT -"
"Yes," I said, laughing a little, nervous and relieved at the same time. "Hit me where it really hurts. That's okay, though. There are definite advantages to not being his type."
"Well, yeah. It means he won't try to schmooze you," Duo said. "But on the other hand, it also means he's not really going to care so much how you're doing except in how it affects his current plans. This guy has no conscience at all, I swear. Has he asked you any kind of questions?"
"Questions?" I wondered. "Well ... last night he asked me all sorts of questions. I was pretty tired - and he said he wanted to hear my side of the story."
"What'd you say?"
"Hmph," I huffed, anger sparking again at the memory. "He wanted to know MY story - why I did what I did, and all that. I told him that the lawyer he hired to defend me must've told my story to the jury. And that was all. I didn't say anything else to him about it."
"That's not so bad," Duo said thoughtfully. "Did he ask you anything else?"
"Ah .. I can't remember exactly, Duo. He kept me talking for an awfully long time about a lot of different things, but nothing specific. He said more than once, though, that Wufei thought I was very important - and he told me he had no idea I was so influential." I repressed a little shudder at that memory, too. That one hit a little too close to home for my comfort.
"Hmm. Then you may still be in the testing period. This is good, Sall - because he hasn't lost interest, and Wufei needs someone else to talk to. You're the only other person Wu talks to besides Trowa, y'know. You do know that - right?"
"...what?" I asked, confused. "No, Duo ... I had no idea ..." I was the only other person Wufei spoke with? Other than Trowa?
"Yep, you and Trowa. That's it for Wu's social life. He never talks to anybody else. Told Trowa God knows what. And now I think he's talking to Treize, but he's more surprised into it, y'know?"
"I know that. Treize is hard not to slip with." I sighed again. "I - I'm afraid of him, Duo."
"You should be. I don't envy you at all. Look, Sall. I don't mean to beat this thing into the ground. But .. it's like ... he's already won the world, and he's getting bored with it. I don't know what he's going to do next, but I don't think he's going to sit. It's almost like he focusing on Wu because there isn't much else he hasn't conquered."
"Do you think - do you think he's going to head to the colonies?" I asked in trepidation.
"Gods. I don't know, Sall. I don't even know why he still has YOU there. It doesn't make much sense, but ... eh. Maybe he'll keep you around."
Ugh. "Ah .. yes. Probably until he gets annoyed enough with me that he'll literally feed me to the starving wolves outside."
"Nah. Doubt that. He doesn't kill when he doesn't have to. I don't get that either, but it's true. Even I'm alive, and I have no reason to be."
"At any rate," I said, "he seems to delight in control."
"Yeah. He does." Duo sounded distracted, preoccupied.
"...and?" I prompted.
There was a long pause. "This is going to sound silly."
"Hardly. It can't be any sillier than anything else that's happened so far."
Duo hesitated. "No, Sall. But it is. I feel like I'm a kid, having a nightmare ..."
"We all are. It's the same one."
"Yeah, but ..." He sighed again and plunged. "I dunno. Sometimes it seems like he's hardly human. He's certainly nothing like what I ever thought Treize Khushrenada was like. Almost as if - as if he was an alien, or a demon, or something, and ... and he was just playing with all of us." An embarrassed silence followed his little speech. "Maybe."
I was silent for a moment, absorbing what he said. "Listen ... Duo," I said, calm and quiet. "It doesn't sound stupid at all. I've only known Khushrenada from his broadcasts, and ... really ... this person I'm with right now bears very little resemblance to him. He's cold, and calculating, and so controlling ... Even some of the people I knew in the service, tough as they were - if you put them against Khushrenada, they wouldn't last two minutes." I laughed a little, again more from nervousness than anything else. "I don't know about him being an alien or a demon, Duo. I think I'd believe the alien part before the demon part - I tend to think from more of a scientific view than anything else. But I will tell you this." I shifted in my chair again, staring out at the now darkened landscape. The sun had set while we were talking; now I felt like a young girl, back in Beijing, awake after a particularly frightening dream. "When Treize warned me - he was staring at me like a hungry lion - and the only thing I could think of was that I was just lucky he was not inclined to eat me."
Breathing deeply, I continued. "I've been in many different battles, Duo - as a doctor, as a commander - but this battle is more exhausting than any of those. I feel that one more misstep - one more error, one small mistake - and something terrible will happen. Everything will come crashing down on me."
"Not necessarily," Duo put in quickly. "I think we actually have an advantage here, Sall. You gotta understand Treize's temperament - if the whole thing crashes, he doesn't have a game, and he WANTS his damned game. One misstep won't necessarily be it. Getting in his way when he really wants something might - but one misstep wouldn't do it. Trust me." He chuckled, a dark sound. "I made plenty, and I'm not dead. And he put you back in the game."
"Right," I murmured. "He put me back ... so it could continue."
"You got it. If he didn't do that a little, there's be no game. He's even doing that with Wu - dragging it out, I mean. That's what made me think he was something - well, something more than human. It's like he's SO bored he has to resort to playing with dull humans - which is why people like Wu really catch his interest. Wu's ... different, somehow. I dunno how, exactly, but he is. Everything about him is different."
"There's nothing we can do now, is there? We just have to go along with whatever he has in mind, and watch, and wait ..."
"Yeah. It sucks, but ... pretty much, that's what we hafta do. Just - just try to get to watch them together as much as you can. It'll give you some ground to talk to Wu. Know what I mean?"
"I do. Really, I do. I'm trying to get through to him, too, but it's har-"
There was a noise in the corridor, coming close to my room. Fortunately, the room was dark - I hadn't bothered to turn on the lights while I was eating, and now I was out of the chair, leaping toward the bathroom. Duo was still talking in my ear.
" - it's hard 'cause he doesn't really have a BASE to understand ... I mean, I know I'm just talking from MY experience, 'cause I've ... uh ... enjoyed life a little more than-"
"Duo, someone's coming," I hissed urgently, frantic to find a hiding place for the phone.
"Shit. Go."
Slamming the cover, I yanked open the narrow linen closet in the bathroom and shoved the phone back in the towels as far as I could. Then I turned on the water for the shower full blast, ripped my clothes off and left them in a heap on the floor and jumped into the shower, sticking my head under the spray, heedless of the water temperature.
Gods, was I lucky I erred on the side of cold water when I twisted the knobs.
I heard a pounding on my door. "Just a moment," I called, pushing the shower door open a little. I turned the water off, wrapped my body in one huge towel and my hair in another, and padded out to answer the door.
Cautiously, I opened the door and peeked around the edge. No one was there. I looked up and down the hallway, and there was no one there, either.
Looking down, I saw a note on the floor with my name written in Mandarin. I picked it up and opened it:
"Stopped by - you're busy. Gone to duel with Treize. Wufei."
Gads. I slumped a little and looked toward the training rooms. Well, Duo HAD said I should watch them together as much as I could. Damn, damn, damn.
It took me five minutes to dress in the other outfit left for me - the soft gi - retrieve the phone from the closet, and stow it again. Treize handling me as much as he did - as in, sweeping me up and carrying me as if I was a child - now made me nervous about keeping the phone on me, but I was MORE nervous about leaving it behind. That was a sure way to get caught.
Leaving the remains of my dinner on the table and scooping up my room key from the dresser, I padded softly out of the room and made my way down the hallway toward the training room.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
A soft, shushing sound floated toward me from the training room, followed by several unintelligible shouts. It sounded to me as if they were going at it harder than they had this morning.
This morning, I thought as I hurried toward the room, happened at least one hundred years ago. At least, that's what it felt like.
Moonlight streamed through the windows, casting long, irregular shadows. It was bright tonight - the moon was full - but it still gave an eerie, almost supernatural cast to everything it touched.
The shouting was louder and more frequent. Now I could hear the rasping of metal on metal, as well. Fear made my feet fly down the corridor, while prudence made my tread as light as possible. As I reached the doorway a familiar feeling clawed its way through me, causing my breath to come in short pants and my heart to beat nearly twice its regular pace. I wasn't simply afraid that Wufei would get hurt; there was some other unmentionable dread that wrapped itself around my reason and caused me to fixate on Wufei. Something was going to happen to him tonight, and the only thing I could do was watch - and pick up the pieces later.
Silently, I padded to the doorway and looked in. Fast, dark shadows were blurring across the floor. Moonlight filtering through windows close to the ceiling helped my vision; I could see surprisingly well, given the hour and the fact that there were no lights on in the facility at all.
The weapons were knives, again - but this time, they were long knives, longer than the morning's duel, and Wufei had two of them. Treize was the larger shadow. He had taken off his shirt, but he didn't look to be perspiring in the least. Wufei, though, had changed to an outfit of all white. He hadn't taken his tunic off, but it was slashed open across his chest, giving the same effect. He didn't seem to be bleeding, but it obviously came rather close to it.
Their tempo was fiercer than the morning; and it was odd, but the longer I watched, the more convinced I became that Treize did that to Wufei on purpose - although why he would do that, I couldn't fathom. If that were true, that would mean he deliberately came within scant millimeters of Wufei's chest while both men were moving. But that would be nonsense, I thought, squinting through the gloom at them. To come that close, on purpose, in the dark, when they were both moving so fast it was difficult to follow their actions? No one could be that precise.
Wufei shouted again, his attention completely focused on his opponent, sidestepped and thrust quickly, ignoring the way his tunic flapped around his waist. He snarled when he failed to connect and spun around to face Treize again, his guard up. I took that opportunity to slide into the room, and stepped back deeper into the shadows of one corner, praying that neither one of them noticed me.
I shouldn't have worried. It was obvious after just a few moments of observation that they could only see each other, that the rest of the room - and the world - had faded to nothingness compared to what was in front of their eyes. I watched, fascinated in spite of myself, just as the prey of the cobra is fascinated with the snake's graceful dance before the snake strikes - and realized something else, something that, given the context, was frightening.
Treize was playing with Wufei.
Oh, there was danger for both of them, all right - should one or the other become careless and neglect the tiniest part of their guard, the other would definitely pounce. In that respect, they were evenly matched. But unlike the morning's workout, where Treize had used his greater size and weight to his advantage, he wasn't doing that now - meaning that he could still end this bought any time he wanted. Apparently, he did not WANT to do that, and was content - doing what? Baiting him? Playing a cat and mouse game with Wufei?
It was completely ironic - for as I watched, Wufei became absolutely wild. He glared at Treize, his teeth were bared, and his entire attention was centered directly on the man in front of him. It was frightening and thrilling, at the same time, to watch - Wufei was turning into the warrior of his people right in front of my eyes. His savagery had reached new heights tonight, and his reactions appeared to be instinctual. Not carefully thought out, as they had previously been, but rapid-fire, snapping thrusts and jabs, all designed to disembowel or dismember his foe.
A change rippled across Treize; before I knew it, he had decided to use his superior size and strength to bring this match to a close. I realized I had been wrong - again - when I assumed that because Treize was taller and heavier he couldn't possibly be as fast as Wufei.
Oh, yes, I was wrong. So very wrong. Treize was faster, by far.
Without warning, Treize slammed into Wufei, thrusting him away from the middle of the floor and smacking him into the far wall, one knife clattering uselessly to the floor. He pinned him there, too, his arm draped across Wufei's collarbone with all his weight leaning into the boy. For a moment, Wufei struggled against him; but immediately went limp when he found he couldn't dislodge that arm, his eyes blazing their defiance into Treize's. But Treize kept staring down into Wufei's face, and while I couldn't see the general's expression, I could certainly see Wufei's. He went from passionately angry, gasping for breath - to slightly confused - and then to something that wasn't scared, exactly, but fairly close to it ...
Now I needed strength, because it felt as though my heart had just leaped into my throat. I knew that whatever was going to happen between them was going to happen NOW, and I wasn't sure how much I could take. Part of me was coiled to spring to Wufei's defense, should he need help; another part watched the pair in horrified fascination; and yet a third part of me laughed at my puny efforts to 'save' Wufei from Treize, given what I had just seen take place.
Right, dear. Your puny efforts and your gun might have given you that one in a million chance needed to kill the bastard; but even so, you can't kill the bastard. You're not very fast, anyway, and you don't have your gun anymore, so just stop dreaming. It's not going to happen today.
Treize still held Wufei against the wall with one arm. With his free hand, he casually raised the long knife, put the point against Wufei's stomach and oh so slowly drew the tip up and up, farther and farther on his body - across Wufei's stomach, over his chest, and finally traced his collarbone almost lovingly, with a great deal of sensuality and tenderness.
Wufei was gazing right into Treize's eyes as the general dragged the knife across his skin. It never left a mark; not even a white trail to indicate where it had been. He was as mesmerized as a deer in front of a predator; his mouth was slightly open and his eyes were wide, staring at Treize.
Treize's voice was low and resonant, carrying to every corner of the room. Leaning even closer to Wufei, breathing right into his face, he murmured, "I ... win."
And abruptly pulled his arm away from Wufei, dropping him to the floor like a stone.
Wufei landed on his feet; but that was about it for any thinking processes. He stood and gaped at Treize, leaning against the wall for support.
Treize, meanwhile was back to 'normal' - he took his own knife, picked up Wufei's, and returned them both to the weapons cabinet with a cheery whistle, not looking at Wufei at all.
I shrank back into the shadows as far as humanly possible. My palms were sweating; there was no way in the WORLD that I wanted Treize, or even Wufei, to know I was there.
After closing the cabinet, Treize turned toward Wufei and appeared to remember something. He walked over to the boy and gently removed the last knife from his hand. Wufei had stayed in place the entire time, staring at Treize, but when the older man's hand brushed his, he leaped back as if scalded. Treize ignored that reaction, turned his back as if he didn't see it, and put that knife away as well.
Wufei wasn't saying a word. He was still staring at Treize and panting as if he had run several miles.
Treize locked the weapons cabinet, put the key in his pocket, retrieved his shirt from the floor, and walked out of the room. Thankfully, he used another pair of doors - not the doors near my hiding place, if you could call it that.
I stayed in place another full ten seconds, just to make sure he was really gone. Wufei hadn't moved a muscle since Treize touched him. He stared after the general, his mouth working a little.
That was enough. I swiftly walked across the room to Wufei, who was now leaning against the wall, his hand tracing the path Treize's knife had taken on his skin.
"Wufei ... Wufei, it's me -"
Without warning, he whirled around and thrust his face close to mine, only centimeters away. "NOTHING HAPPENED!"
I pulled back a little, then put my arm out and rested my hand on his shoulder. "I know, Wufei. You left me a note, telling me you were going to duel. I came down to see you."
He nodded a little, but was back to touching his chest and collarbone. I could tell he was completely distraught; I doubted very much if he had EVER been touched like that. Considering he had only been with his wife once and they weren't really friendly with each other, I didn't see that there would have been any opportunity for play like that.
"Come on, Wufei. Let's go back to your room. You can shower there, and change."
His legs gave out underneath him, and he slumped to the floor, dazed and defeated.
Gods. I dropped to the floor with him, earnestly appealing to any shred of consciousness I found. "Wufei. Please, get up and let's go back. You can't stay here on the training room floor."
He looked up at me as if he had forgotten I was there.
"Wufei ... please. Do come back with me."
After a moment's hesitation, he muttered, "All ... right ..."
This time, he didn't pull away from me. He allowed me to gently tug him to his feet, and then walked with me, as docile as I had ever seen him, out the door and down the hallway to his room. I felt paranoid as we made our way there, imagining Treize was watching us walk back to his room - but that was ridiculous, because I saw him leave through the other door, which didn't lead to this hallway at all ...
Wufei seemed to be more in shock than anything else; he was trembling a little.
I opened the door to Wufei's room and helped him inside. I saw, on his dresser, a single red rose - and didn't process what that meant. In fact, I really didn't WANT to process what that meant, so .. my mind refused the input. It was pretty good at not acknowledging what it didn't want to see and ignoring information right in front of me. Too much information here, I told myself. You'll melt down if you're not careful.
"Wufei - Wufei, you should take a shower before you go to bed. You'll feel better."
He gave no resistance; walked into the bathroom when requested, stripped down when asked, and strode into the shower when directed. When the water hit him, though, he started to come back to himself; he realized I was in the room, but didn't realize he was naked in the shower. Wufei stuck his head out the door and looked at me, confusion uppermost in his mind.
"What ... did he do?"
"I'll tell you when you're out of the shower, Wufei," I said, gentle and firm. "Right now, you just concentrate on getting clean. I'm going to put another outfit in here for you to wear, and I'm going to call Mrs. Grimm and have some tea brought up for us."
"I didn't DO anything," he said with a frown, pulling his head back from the door and into the spray.
"Yes... I know, Wufei. I know." I walked out of the bathroom and into the main room, sighing as I dialed Mrs. Grimm's number.