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Tapestry - Chapter 24
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We sat next to each other on my bed. Neither one of us knew what to do.
"I was in the room next to Treize, Wufei, listening through the vent. I only saw some of what went on, but ... I'm not really sure what happened. How are you? Are you all right?"
Wufei turned toward me, giving me a sharp look. "You WERE?"
I blinked, taken aback by his vehemence. "Well ... yes. I wanted to be there, in case you needed help."
His expression darkened the longer he stared at me. "You shouldn't have been there listening. YOU should not have been there at ALL. What could you have done to help?"
I looked back in complete surprise. "Wufei - I'm sorry, but I felt I needed to do something, and that was the best thing I could think of, so -"
"So you put yourself in danger for no REASON? Woman, the next time I TELL you to go to your room, you DO IT! UNE is running around! She's insane! You could have been killed!"
Confused and disconcerted, I blinked at him again and tried to explain. "But, Wufei, I was inside the room, and the door was closed. I mean, I could hear people out in the hallway, and they were looking for something - well, probably someone, I guess, but -"
Whoops. Wrong thing to say. Now his eyes narrowed to slits and he attacked.
"Dammit, woman, are you TRYING to die!?"
Oh, gads, so that was it. Now I knew why he was digging into me and shying away from the original question.
"No, no, Wufei, I'm not trying to die, and I didn't believe I was in danger, either. So - did seeing Treize help? And are you all right?"
That stopped him in mid-tirade. He blinked at me and closed his mouth, looking confused at the change of subject.
"What? Of ... of course I'm all right!" He looked more flustered by the moment.
"Good." I nodded at him, projecting calm, calm, calm. "I was worried. And what do you think about him now?"
His attitude became slightly sullen. "He's a bastard." He turned away from me, looking at the other side of the room.
"Ah," I remarked dryly, "that's so descriptive. Wufei. Do you believe I imagined everything I told you before?"
He bent his head at an angle and glanced back at me, not saying anything.
"Oh," I murmured, looking away. "I see."
"No, Sally. I don't believe you imagined everything. I ... saw ... something tonight that I can't explain. So don't ask. But I don't think it's what you feared."
As I listening to him, I noticed he said 'you' instead of 'we.' A fine distinction, really - especially considering HE'D brought the non-human angle up in the first plade - but a distinction, after all. I shook my head and sighed.
"But - if it's not what I thought - then what could it be?"
"I don't know - but anything approaching what we were thinking would be ludicrous. He's ... Treize." Wufei gave an expressive shrug of his shoulders and grimaced. "He's just .. TREIZE."
Rubbing my forehead, I sighed and said, "Right. Just ... Treize. That's quite enough, I suppose." Gods, it certainly was enough for me. Winking at me while I looked through vent? I didn't want to know. Really. I did NOT want to know.
"Whatever he is, Sally, it's not for you to mess with."
I looked up to see Wufei considering me thoughtfully. "What do you mean?" I frowned back, looking over at him.
"I should never have brought you here to begin with - that was my own weakness and stupidity."
"No, you don't understand, Wufei. Had you not done that, I would probably be dead by now. I prefer this to the alternative." I gave him a small smile, trying to lighten the mood.
"Yes. You would," he said evenly, not returning my smile. In fact, he looked downright grim.
I widened my eyes - good heavens, he thought death would have been a better alternative for me?! "Wufei. I - I'm sorry you think you made a mistake, but I don't - because it gives me a chance to keep fighting." I shrugged. "I hope."
He sighed and closed his eyes. "Sally, I'm going to get you out of here. You shouldn't BE here. You should –"
"WHAT are you doing out of your rooms?"
Gads, what a horrid, strident voice. Wufei and I jumped together, turning toward the door at the same time.
Une was framed in the doorway, glaring, her military uniform buttoned tightly at her neck and her arms folded across her chest, malevolence surging from her in waves. She was not happy in the least.
"Ah. Lady Une." I drew myself up, still sitting on the bed, my back stiffening. I wasn't getting off the bed, though - if she thought I was going to stand for her, she was sadly mistaken. Une's special brand of intimidation did not impress me in the least; my body language probably showed my dislike. Well, too bad. "I wasn't aware that we needed to stay in our rooms. No one ordered us to do so, or locked us in ..."
"You are NOT free to roam this ship at will, Ms. Po," Une responded sharply, frowning as if I had spoken out of turn. "You are both military prisoners, and will please remember to ACT as such – or else we will be forced to remind you."
"We? Forgive me, Lady Une," I continued, consciously making my voice soft and insistant, "but again, I don't recall Treize saying that Wufei and I could not visit each other –"
Her eyes narrowing in suspicion, Une broke in. "Visit? Doing what, may I ask?"
"—and had he requested that we stay in our rooms, we would, of course, have complied." Insinuating that while Treize's request would have been honored, hers was quite beneath my notice.
"This is NOT a party," Une snapped peevishly, completely aware of what I was doing and quite satisfactorily angry. "I think I will have to separate you two."
Wufei glowered at Une, gripping the bedspread in one hand. He crushed the material as if throttling her. My gaze went from Wufei's hands to Une's throat. I looked at her and smiled faintly. She scowled at me. I widened my smile.
"If you feel that's necessary for your piece of mind, Lady Une, then by all means, separate us. However," I said, my voice soft and dripping with thinly veiled sarcasm, "we were not planning to take over the ship, if that's what you feared."
"I hardly think debauchery of any kind would be permitted, Ms. Po," Une snarled, giving me an absolutely degrading look. Turning her gaze on Wufei, she commanded, "Wufei. Come out of there. Now."
Ignoring her last taunt, I looked at him and murmured, "Wufei – I'm sure we can continue our conversation later, if you'd like." I gave him a reassuring smile and shook my head, warning him not to react.
He nodded once, glared at Une, stood, and walked slowly toward the door. The air was tense and suffocating; Wufei's taut muscles begged to spring into action. Only his unspoken promise to me kept him from assaulting Une.
Frankly, I didn't care what happened to Une. But if something did happen that involved either Wufei or me, we'd have to explain that to Treize. Right now that didn't seem to be a terribly attractive idea.
Lady Une stared at me like a basilisk. Bet she wishes she was a basilisk, too, I thought, staring back. She'd love to have an excuse to kill me. She wouldn't care about explaining that to her precious Treize-sama.
"I'll see you later, Wufei," I said in an undertone, ignoring Une completely.
Wufei nodded and ground his teeth audibly as he passed her. Unfortunately, the career soldier in Une saw something in his manner that did not quite fit her idea of how a prisoner should act, and she made a significant error –
– she slapped him across the face, shouting, "Show RESPECT, prisoner!"
For one moment, Wufei was completely and utterly still. His head had been snapped to one side by Une's hand and a red blotch spread across his opposite cheek. It didn't even appear that he was breathing.
I gasped and immediately leaped toward Une, trying to prevent the inevitable explosion.
His arms a blur, Wufei suddenly grabbed Une from the doorway, threw her into the wall next to the door and pinned her there, lifting her slightly off the floor, his hands fisted in her shirt. His face contorted in rage, he shoved it inches away from hers and shouted, "DO – NOT – HIT – ME!"
Being a soldier, Une automatically reached for her gun; and being someone with reactions and reflexes twice as fast as hers, Wufei saw her move, grabbed her wrist and slammed it into the wall next to her head, hard enough to break her bones. The gun clattered to the floor, forgotten, as a prolonged crunching noise and Une's sharp inhalation confirmed her broken wrist. To her credit, though, she didn't flinch – she simply panted and glared her hatred at Wufei.
Unnoticed, I bent and quickly snatched the gun from the floor, stowing it in the waistband of my pants, next to the small of my back. Pulling my sweatshirt over the gun, I walked next to Wufei, looking at him as he held Une against the wall. His face was inches away from hers, and he was breathing deeply and slowly, staring at her. He's deciding whether or not it's worth the effort and trouble to kill her, I realized.
"It's up to you, Wufei," I said quietly, narrowing my eyes as I looked at Une. "But think … is she worth the trouble?"
Wufei bared his teeth, appearing feral as he hissed at Une. "She has killed thousands."
"So have you." Une's voice was unsteady and wavering when she finally spoke; her eyes, though, were eyes narrowed behind cold wire glasses, and her face was pasty white. "Are you going to take out both of us?"
Wufei's eyes widened momentarily as he stared at her. .
"Who exactly are you talking about, Lady?" I asked
"Me … and the boy here." Une regarded me with a twisted smile. "Not that you're innocent, but you hardly care."
Wufei shoved away from Une very abruptly, as if he had been burned, his eyes wide and staring.
"Strange," I said, leaning on the doorway. "I don't remember Wufei relishing his work as much as you do, Lady."
"It hardly matters," Une snapped, watching Wufei as she tugged her jacket back into place with her good hand, "does it, boy?"
She wasn't fooling me, though. She looked pale as hell.
I raised my eyebrow at her. "Why, in fact it does make a difference, Lady, in which of you has actually kept their humanity. In that respect, you and OZ are well suited for each other. Both automotons - hardly human at all."
Wufei closed his eyes for a moment, then turned on his heel and marched out of the room, looking shaken.
"Indeed," Une said, staring at me, "and you and the failed resistance are most certainly suited as well." She raised her chin and tried to sail by me, projecting anger and rightious indignation.
But I leaned across the doorway and barred her way with my arm, forcing Une to stop and look at me. I smiled over at her, poisonously pleasant.
"You're right, of course – the resistance has always represented the people. And a piece of advice, Lady Une? If I were you … I'd think twice before manhandling either Wufei or me again." Une's eyes were cold and blue, but mine felt like chips of cobalt ice. "I don't believe Treize would appreciate it – do you?"
When she heard that, her expression hovered somewhere between horrified and furious. It was fascinating. I didn't have to do anything but smile sweetly at her and tilt my head in an approximation of a charming manner, silently daring her to contradict me.
The muscles along her jawline tightened; her jaw rocked a little, but she said absolutely nothing. She did, however, drive her elbow into my ribs, shove me to the other side of the doorway hard enough to knock the breath out of me and hiss, "WE shall SEE, Sally Po. We shall see." The last I saw of Une, she gave me a look of burning, absolute hatred, whirled around and marched down the corridor, her back stiff and straight as a ramrod, trying not to grab at her injured arm.
I painfully caught my breath, nodded my head, rubbed my shoulder where I landed against the doorframe and watched her strut away from me.
"We WILL see, Une," I murmured to myself. "And things will happen much sooner than you could ever believe."
I smiled a thin, tiny smile, rolled around the doorframe and gently pulled the door closed. My left hand automatically went to the small of my back, seeking a familiar weight, snug against the small of my back, somthing that had been missing for an awfully long time.
Une's gun.
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Strange what technology can do for you.
Suddenly, I felt like some of the pressures and troubles of the past several days had been lifted from my shoulders - and all because of this small little mechanical appliance I felt pressing into my back.
One practiced, fluid motion brought the snub nosed piece in front of me; a sharp flick of my wrist opened the barrel, exposing the chambers. I peered inside, poking with my fingers, smiling at what I found.
Fully loaded. Always efficient, Une. How very kind of you.
All thoughts of caution and carefully wrought plans vanished in the presence of the deadly potential lying dormant in the palm of my hand. Duo's words, Trowa's warning meant nothing – everything faded as I stared at the means to our salvation.
I can kill him now. Right now. Immediately. My mind reeled at the thought. I could rid the world of OZ … cut off the serpent's head, and the body dies naturally. We would be free. No more threat. Wufei and I would be free.
And that bastard's as human as I am, regardless of what I told Wufei. He's human, and he's going to die. Une's gun would kill him. That's irony, pure and simple.
I flipped the chamber closed and held the gun out at arm's length and sighted along the barrel. It can work ... I know it can work. It has to work. We will be free.
Tucking the revolver into the waistband of my pants, I pulled my sweatshirt down, opened the cabin door and glanced in both directions. Only the sounds of the sea and the storm echoed back at me - otherwise, the corridor was quite empty.
I slipped out of the cabin, closed the door and moved stealthily down the hallway, keeping close to the shadows.
I knew if I was going to do this, it had to be quickly and it had to be now. Moving on instinct, I slipped past the cabins, staying in the shadows on the port side of the ship and ducked under portholes to avoid detection.
There was no time to let Wufei know what I was doing - plus, I didn't really want to tell him, anyway. If I told him, he would probabaly try to take the gun from me rather than let me shoot Treize myself. His reaction to what I did when he was with Treize was pretty telling. I knew what his reaction would be, even if I told him I was using a gundam against Treize. He'd want to tie me up and lock me in an underground bunker before he'd let me attack Treize.
I padded over to the general's door and flattened myself against the bulkhead. Drawing the gun, careful to hold it muzzle up in my left hand as my right hand sought the doorknob, I took a deep breath and focused. Remember what you want to do, Sally. You want to kill him now, while you still can - and while you're still yourself.
The doorknob turned freely in my hand. Taking one long, deep breath, I turned the knob, pivoted, kicking the door open and leaped into the room. Landing in a defensive crouch with my arms fully extended, I scanned the entire room as quickly as I could.
No one was there. It was empty.
There was no sign that anyone had even been in it. The bed was made; there wasn't a wrinkle to be seen on the comforter; there were no personal effects on the dresser; and it appeared that even the attached bathroom had not been touched. There was a faint odor of something in the room – something pleasant, to be sure, but not something immediately identifiable.
I was positive this was the room; blinking, I stowed the gun and squinted up at the transom over the bed. This was it, I was sure of it … he had been laying here, right underneath this vent, I knew it …
Sighing, I stepped out on deck, closed the door and turned toward the bow. Fine, then - I'll just have to find him. Irritating, but necessary.
But why would he have left his room? my strange little voice asked. That voice was just as irritating as Treize at times. Une said he was sleeping, it continued, and the last time you saw him he wasn't even wearing a shirt. Now suddenly he's out of his room. Why?
Nervousness at what I intended to do was slowly pushing itself through my usual mask of unruffled calm. You're planning to assassinate the leader of the world, you know, my voice said, as if things weren't bad enough. Do you know what that means? If you succeed, are you aware of the consequences of your act-
SHUT UP!
But ... what if Treize left because he knew you were hunting him, and wanted to get an advantage ...
Gods, I don't WANT to listen to you any more! Just SHUT UP!
And ... it did. I could hardly believe it, but there was silence - blessed silence - in my mind.
Not for long, though. Now I was thinking about Treize leaving his room on purpose - was that really so far-fetched? My gaze roved across the deck, beyond the end of the cabins on my right and toward the partially covered bar near the bow of the ship. Gads, now I'm really imagining things. There's no need to do that – things are bad enough as they are. But the tempo of my heart picked up the closer I moved toward the bow. He couldn't know I was hunting him - could he ...?
The cabins on my right side had stopped a while ago, replaced with a long multi-purpose room, complete with tables, chairs and an indoor bar. Small portholes marked the walls at regular intervals, enough to allow light to filter into room but not large enough to let anyone outside see inside.
Large, frosted glass doors opened into the the room, halfway between the port and starboard sides of the ship. A wide, open staircase leading to the upper deck was next to the outdoor bar, also across from the room. No one was in sight on deck - and with the storm picking up strength, no one was likely to be, either. Gusts of wind buffeted me, pushing me as I crossed the open deck.
I turned my head to look through the glass doors into the large antechamber, and saw Treize sitting next to an elegant, low table – alone. A perfectly shaped goblet of wine was at his fingertips as he sat in one of the room's overstuffed chairs, reading. The light from the table lamp threw soft shadows across his body, so that he seemed to be bathed in a soft, warm glow, shining with a gentle radiance.
My breath caught in my throat. He was there, alone, and far enough away from the door that I would be able to shoot him without fear of retaliation. Perfect – it was perfect. The storm would cover any noise the gun made. I kept looking at him, and realized that he was perfect, too; his features were perfectly symmetrical; the light threw a soft focus on—
Gods, what are you thinking? I shook my head roughly, forcing my thoughts away from anything not involved with killing that man. It was much too easy to be distracted and confused by him, much too easy. Focus – pay attention to the task at hand. All you have to do is shoot him – that's all – no talking, no looking, no nothing. Just shoot him.
I pushed one of the frosted glass panels open with my one hand as I reached behind me with my other hand. I pushed my sweatshirt out of the way to expose the gun, then dropped my hand to my side and casually walked into the hall.
Treize sighed softly, as if what he was reading disappointed him in some manner. He carefully closed his book, placed it on the table next to him and looked up at me under lowered eyebrows. He did not appear surprised at all; in fact, he seemed to be expecting me.
"Ms. Po," Treize nodded, his gaze sharp and keen, his manner strangely formal. His blue eyes missed nothing at all.
"Treize," I replied, stopping just inside the door. This is as close as I dare, I decided. The nervousness I had successfully squelched before was asserting itself again, making small, doubtful inroads into my resolve. What if …
"Is it perhaps the weather that has made both of you so annoying today, Ms. Po?" Treize asked, regarding me with a weary air.
"Not at all, Treize," I answered, unsmiling, staring at him without blinking. "That's simply the way we are –"
And in one fluid motion, I reached behind me again, sank into a defensive stance, drew Une's weapon and pointed it at his chest, supporting and steadying it with my left hand.
"—annoying."
Treize continued to regard me from under hooded eyes; not only did he not seem surprised at the sudden turn of events, he made no move to protect himself at all.
"What would you like, Ms. Po?" he asked acidly, staring right at me. "Would you like me to stand? To turn my back, perhaps?"
Oh, gee, would you? cackled the snarky, irrepressible voice in my head.
~You'll pay for that, my girl.~
He stood up and moved to the side of the table with supple ease, his hands dropped lightly at his sides. If he was nervous, he gave absolutely no sign of it; instead, he stood in front of me calmly, unperturbed – almost as if he was offering himself, encouraging me to make my point.
Oh, my. Are you kidding? He didn't have to ask twice.
With a strained, cold smile, I sighted along the barrel to the center of his chest, murmured, "Goodbye, Treize," and tightened my finger on the trigger.
At that instant a thunderous voice sounded in my head – a voice so loud it made me blink and stagger, the volume so great that it shot a lancing, stabbing pain into my psyche, as if an icepick had been plunged into my head:
NO - !
I gasped out loud, my usual composure completely shattered. I was so shocked that my hand jerked up and over to the right, so that the shot that would have hit Treize dead in the heart was misdirected to his shoulder. My head throbbing in agony. I could only blindly gape in dismay – where – where did that come from …? ..who ..?
And suddenly it didn't matter at all, because Treize was on top of me, smothering me with his superior size and strength, moving so quickly that I could have sworn he had just vanished and reappeared. He pulled my right arm straight over my head so that the gun pointed at the ceiling and squeezed my hand, causing the weapon to drop harmlessly from my now numb fingers. At the same time his other hand clamped onto my left wrist, twisted my arm into the small of my back and pulled, pressing my body tight against his, crushing my breasts against his chest.
That same movement forced my chin up so I had no choice but to look at him. His gaze bored into mine – and I gasped, my jaw clenched, suddenly frightened and fighting to maintain control. A coldness, calculated and deadly, shone back at me from his eyes, exactly as it had after the incident with the wolf at the Luxembourg estate. I stared, unable to look or pull away, apprehension and dread simmering under a cracked mask of forced calmness.
There was something else there as well, something I was loathe to admit to myself, but something that I couldn't ignore. Part of me wanted him to mold every inch of his body to mine, pressing me back into blissful oblivion where I was surrounded by strong, masculine scents and feelings, gently drowning any choice I may have had in the force of his personality.
His eyes changed expression as he sighed and looked deeply into mine. "Indeed," he said evenly, nodding. "I think you need to take a nap, Sally."
I stared back at him helplessly. "Wha … what?" I stammered, staring up at him, unable to move even a muscle. I was lucky I was able to say anything at all.
His expression shifted again, and unexpectedly my right hand was released. At the same time I felt his long fingers questing from the base of my skull to the nape of my neck – and abruptly something that felt like a snapping, electric jolt whipped through my body, with an intense feeling of concentrated pain that followed closely on its heels. I knew I cried out.
The last thing I remember is the world turning black as my knees buckled and I felt myself slumping against Treize.
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Tapestry - Chapter 24
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We sat next to each other on my bed. Neither one of us knew what to do.
"I was in the room next to Treize, Wufei, listening through the vent. I only saw some of what went on, but ... I'm not really sure what happened. How are you? Are you all right?"
Wufei turned toward me, giving me a sharp look. "You WERE?"
I blinked, taken aback by his vehemence. "Well ... yes. I wanted to be there, in case you needed help."
His expression darkened the longer he stared at me. "You shouldn't have been there listening. YOU should not have been there at ALL. What could you have done to help?"
I looked back in complete surprise. "Wufei - I'm sorry, but I felt I needed to do something, and that was the best thing I could think of, so -"
"So you put yourself in danger for no REASON? Woman, the next time I TELL you to go to your room, you DO IT! UNE is running around! She's insane! You could have been killed!"
Confused and disconcerted, I blinked at him again and tried to explain. "But, Wufei, I was inside the room, and the door was closed. I mean, I could hear people out in the hallway, and they were looking for something - well, probably someone, I guess, but -"
Whoops. Wrong thing to say. Now his eyes narrowed to slits and he attacked.
"Dammit, woman, are you TRYING to die!?"
Oh, gads, so that was it. Now I knew why he was digging into me and shying away from the original question.
"No, no, Wufei, I'm not trying to die, and I didn't believe I was in danger, either. So - did seeing Treize help? And are you all right?"
That stopped him in mid-tirade. He blinked at me and closed his mouth, looking confused at the change of subject.
"What? Of ... of course I'm all right!" He looked more flustered by the moment.
"Good." I nodded at him, projecting calm, calm, calm. "I was worried. And what do you think about him now?"
His attitude became slightly sullen. "He's a bastard." He turned away from me, looking at the other side of the room.
"Ah," I remarked dryly, "that's so descriptive. Wufei. Do you believe I imagined everything I told you before?"
He bent his head at an angle and glanced back at me, not saying anything.
"Oh," I murmured, looking away. "I see."
"No, Sally. I don't believe you imagined everything. I ... saw ... something tonight that I can't explain. So don't ask. But I don't think it's what you feared."
As I listening to him, I noticed he said 'you' instead of 'we.' A fine distinction, really - especially considering HE'D brought the non-human angle up in the first plade - but a distinction, after all. I shook my head and sighed.
"But - if it's not what I thought - then what could it be?"
"I don't know - but anything approaching what we were thinking would be ludicrous. He's ... Treize." Wufei gave an expressive shrug of his shoulders and grimaced. "He's just .. TREIZE."
Rubbing my forehead, I sighed and said, "Right. Just ... Treize. That's quite enough, I suppose." Gods, it certainly was enough for me. Winking at me while I looked through vent? I didn't want to know. Really. I did NOT want to know.
"Whatever he is, Sally, it's not for you to mess with."
I looked up to see Wufei considering me thoughtfully. "What do you mean?" I frowned back, looking over at him.
"I should never have brought you here to begin with - that was my own weakness and stupidity."
"No, you don't understand, Wufei. Had you not done that, I would probably be dead by now. I prefer this to the alternative." I gave him a small smile, trying to lighten the mood.
"Yes. You would," he said evenly, not returning my smile. In fact, he looked downright grim.
I widened my eyes - good heavens, he thought death would have been a better alternative for me?! "Wufei. I - I'm sorry you think you made a mistake, but I don't - because it gives me a chance to keep fighting." I shrugged. "I hope."
He sighed and closed his eyes. "Sally, I'm going to get you out of here. You shouldn't BE here. You should –"
"WHAT are you doing out of your rooms?"
Gads, what a horrid, strident voice. Wufei and I jumped together, turning toward the door at the same time.
Une was framed in the doorway, glaring, her military uniform buttoned tightly at her neck and her arms folded across her chest, malevolence surging from her in waves. She was not happy in the least.
"Ah. Lady Une." I drew myself up, still sitting on the bed, my back stiffening. I wasn't getting off the bed, though - if she thought I was going to stand for her, she was sadly mistaken. Une's special brand of intimidation did not impress me in the least; my body language probably showed my dislike. Well, too bad. "I wasn't aware that we needed to stay in our rooms. No one ordered us to do so, or locked us in ..."
"You are NOT free to roam this ship at will, Ms. Po," Une responded sharply, frowning as if I had spoken out of turn. "You are both military prisoners, and will please remember to ACT as such – or else we will be forced to remind you."
"We? Forgive me, Lady Une," I continued, consciously making my voice soft and insistant, "but again, I don't recall Treize saying that Wufei and I could not visit each other –"
Her eyes narrowing in suspicion, Une broke in. "Visit? Doing what, may I ask?"
"—and had he requested that we stay in our rooms, we would, of course, have complied." Insinuating that while Treize's request would have been honored, hers was quite beneath my notice.
"This is NOT a party," Une snapped peevishly, completely aware of what I was doing and quite satisfactorily angry. "I think I will have to separate you two."
Wufei glowered at Une, gripping the bedspread in one hand. He crushed the material as if throttling her. My gaze went from Wufei's hands to Une's throat. I looked at her and smiled faintly. She scowled at me. I widened my smile.
"If you feel that's necessary for your piece of mind, Lady Une, then by all means, separate us. However," I said, my voice soft and dripping with thinly veiled sarcasm, "we were not planning to take over the ship, if that's what you feared."
"I hardly think debauchery of any kind would be permitted, Ms. Po," Une snarled, giving me an absolutely degrading look. Turning her gaze on Wufei, she commanded, "Wufei. Come out of there. Now."
Ignoring her last taunt, I looked at him and murmured, "Wufei – I'm sure we can continue our conversation later, if you'd like." I gave him a reassuring smile and shook my head, warning him not to react.
He nodded once, glared at Une, stood, and walked slowly toward the door. The air was tense and suffocating; Wufei's taut muscles begged to spring into action. Only his unspoken promise to me kept him from assaulting Une.
Frankly, I didn't care what happened to Une. But if something did happen that involved either Wufei or me, we'd have to explain that to Treize. Right now that didn't seem to be a terribly attractive idea.
Lady Une stared at me like a basilisk. Bet she wishes she was a basilisk, too, I thought, staring back. She'd love to have an excuse to kill me. She wouldn't care about explaining that to her precious Treize-sama.
"I'll see you later, Wufei," I said in an undertone, ignoring Une completely.
Wufei nodded and ground his teeth audibly as he passed her. Unfortunately, the career soldier in Une saw something in his manner that did not quite fit her idea of how a prisoner should act, and she made a significant error –
– she slapped him across the face, shouting, "Show RESPECT, prisoner!"
For one moment, Wufei was completely and utterly still. His head had been snapped to one side by Une's hand and a red blotch spread across his opposite cheek. It didn't even appear that he was breathing.
I gasped and immediately leaped toward Une, trying to prevent the inevitable explosion.
His arms a blur, Wufei suddenly grabbed Une from the doorway, threw her into the wall next to the door and pinned her there, lifting her slightly off the floor, his hands fisted in her shirt. His face contorted in rage, he shoved it inches away from hers and shouted, "DO – NOT – HIT – ME!"
Being a soldier, Une automatically reached for her gun; and being someone with reactions and reflexes twice as fast as hers, Wufei saw her move, grabbed her wrist and slammed it into the wall next to her head, hard enough to break her bones. The gun clattered to the floor, forgotten, as a prolonged crunching noise and Une's sharp inhalation confirmed her broken wrist. To her credit, though, she didn't flinch – she simply panted and glared her hatred at Wufei.
Unnoticed, I bent and quickly snatched the gun from the floor, stowing it in the waistband of my pants, next to the small of my back. Pulling my sweatshirt over the gun, I walked next to Wufei, looking at him as he held Une against the wall. His face was inches away from hers, and he was breathing deeply and slowly, staring at her. He's deciding whether or not it's worth the effort and trouble to kill her, I realized.
"It's up to you, Wufei," I said quietly, narrowing my eyes as I looked at Une. "But think … is she worth the trouble?"
Wufei bared his teeth, appearing feral as he hissed at Une. "She has killed thousands."
"So have you." Une's voice was unsteady and wavering when she finally spoke; her eyes, though, were eyes narrowed behind cold wire glasses, and her face was pasty white. "Are you going to take out both of us?"
Wufei's eyes widened momentarily as he stared at her. .
"Who exactly are you talking about, Lady?" I asked
"Me … and the boy here." Une regarded me with a twisted smile. "Not that you're innocent, but you hardly care."
Wufei shoved away from Une very abruptly, as if he had been burned, his eyes wide and staring.
"Strange," I said, leaning on the doorway. "I don't remember Wufei relishing his work as much as you do, Lady."
"It hardly matters," Une snapped, watching Wufei as she tugged her jacket back into place with her good hand, "does it, boy?"
She wasn't fooling me, though. She looked pale as hell.
I raised my eyebrow at her. "Why, in fact it does make a difference, Lady, in which of you has actually kept their humanity. In that respect, you and OZ are well suited for each other. Both automotons - hardly human at all."
Wufei closed his eyes for a moment, then turned on his heel and marched out of the room, looking shaken.
"Indeed," Une said, staring at me, "and you and the failed resistance are most certainly suited as well." She raised her chin and tried to sail by me, projecting anger and rightious indignation.
But I leaned across the doorway and barred her way with my arm, forcing Une to stop and look at me. I smiled over at her, poisonously pleasant.
"You're right, of course – the resistance has always represented the people. And a piece of advice, Lady Une? If I were you … I'd think twice before manhandling either Wufei or me again." Une's eyes were cold and blue, but mine felt like chips of cobalt ice. "I don't believe Treize would appreciate it – do you?"
When she heard that, her expression hovered somewhere between horrified and furious. It was fascinating. I didn't have to do anything but smile sweetly at her and tilt my head in an approximation of a charming manner, silently daring her to contradict me.
The muscles along her jawline tightened; her jaw rocked a little, but she said absolutely nothing. She did, however, drive her elbow into my ribs, shove me to the other side of the doorway hard enough to knock the breath out of me and hiss, "WE shall SEE, Sally Po. We shall see." The last I saw of Une, she gave me a look of burning, absolute hatred, whirled around and marched down the corridor, her back stiff and straight as a ramrod, trying not to grab at her injured arm.
I painfully caught my breath, nodded my head, rubbed my shoulder where I landed against the doorframe and watched her strut away from me.
"We WILL see, Une," I murmured to myself. "And things will happen much sooner than you could ever believe."
I smiled a thin, tiny smile, rolled around the doorframe and gently pulled the door closed. My left hand automatically went to the small of my back, seeking a familiar weight, snug against the small of my back, somthing that had been missing for an awfully long time.
Une's gun.
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Strange what technology can do for you.
Suddenly, I felt like some of the pressures and troubles of the past several days had been lifted from my shoulders - and all because of this small little mechanical appliance I felt pressing into my back.
One practiced, fluid motion brought the snub nosed piece in front of me; a sharp flick of my wrist opened the barrel, exposing the chambers. I peered inside, poking with my fingers, smiling at what I found.
Fully loaded. Always efficient, Une. How very kind of you.
All thoughts of caution and carefully wrought plans vanished in the presence of the deadly potential lying dormant in the palm of my hand. Duo's words, Trowa's warning meant nothing – everything faded as I stared at the means to our salvation.
I can kill him now. Right now. Immediately. My mind reeled at the thought. I could rid the world of OZ … cut off the serpent's head, and the body dies naturally. We would be free. No more threat. Wufei and I would be free.
And that bastard's as human as I am, regardless of what I told Wufei. He's human, and he's going to die. Une's gun would kill him. That's irony, pure and simple.
I flipped the chamber closed and held the gun out at arm's length and sighted along the barrel. It can work ... I know it can work. It has to work. We will be free.
Tucking the revolver into the waistband of my pants, I pulled my sweatshirt down, opened the cabin door and glanced in both directions. Only the sounds of the sea and the storm echoed back at me - otherwise, the corridor was quite empty.
I slipped out of the cabin, closed the door and moved stealthily down the hallway, keeping close to the shadows.
I knew if I was going to do this, it had to be quickly and it had to be now. Moving on instinct, I slipped past the cabins, staying in the shadows on the port side of the ship and ducked under portholes to avoid detection.
There was no time to let Wufei know what I was doing - plus, I didn't really want to tell him, anyway. If I told him, he would probabaly try to take the gun from me rather than let me shoot Treize myself. His reaction to what I did when he was with Treize was pretty telling. I knew what his reaction would be, even if I told him I was using a gundam against Treize. He'd want to tie me up and lock me in an underground bunker before he'd let me attack Treize.
I padded over to the general's door and flattened myself against the bulkhead. Drawing the gun, careful to hold it muzzle up in my left hand as my right hand sought the doorknob, I took a deep breath and focused. Remember what you want to do, Sally. You want to kill him now, while you still can - and while you're still yourself.
The doorknob turned freely in my hand. Taking one long, deep breath, I turned the knob, pivoted, kicking the door open and leaped into the room. Landing in a defensive crouch with my arms fully extended, I scanned the entire room as quickly as I could.
No one was there. It was empty.
There was no sign that anyone had even been in it. The bed was made; there wasn't a wrinkle to be seen on the comforter; there were no personal effects on the dresser; and it appeared that even the attached bathroom had not been touched. There was a faint odor of something in the room – something pleasant, to be sure, but not something immediately identifiable.
I was positive this was the room; blinking, I stowed the gun and squinted up at the transom over the bed. This was it, I was sure of it … he had been laying here, right underneath this vent, I knew it …
Sighing, I stepped out on deck, closed the door and turned toward the bow. Fine, then - I'll just have to find him. Irritating, but necessary.
But why would he have left his room? my strange little voice asked. That voice was just as irritating as Treize at times. Une said he was sleeping, it continued, and the last time you saw him he wasn't even wearing a shirt. Now suddenly he's out of his room. Why?
Nervousness at what I intended to do was slowly pushing itself through my usual mask of unruffled calm. You're planning to assassinate the leader of the world, you know, my voice said, as if things weren't bad enough. Do you know what that means? If you succeed, are you aware of the consequences of your act-
SHUT UP!
But ... what if Treize left because he knew you were hunting him, and wanted to get an advantage ...
Gods, I don't WANT to listen to you any more! Just SHUT UP!
And ... it did. I could hardly believe it, but there was silence - blessed silence - in my mind.
Not for long, though. Now I was thinking about Treize leaving his room on purpose - was that really so far-fetched? My gaze roved across the deck, beyond the end of the cabins on my right and toward the partially covered bar near the bow of the ship. Gads, now I'm really imagining things. There's no need to do that – things are bad enough as they are. But the tempo of my heart picked up the closer I moved toward the bow. He couldn't know I was hunting him - could he ...?
The cabins on my right side had stopped a while ago, replaced with a long multi-purpose room, complete with tables, chairs and an indoor bar. Small portholes marked the walls at regular intervals, enough to allow light to filter into room but not large enough to let anyone outside see inside.
Large, frosted glass doors opened into the the room, halfway between the port and starboard sides of the ship. A wide, open staircase leading to the upper deck was next to the outdoor bar, also across from the room. No one was in sight on deck - and with the storm picking up strength, no one was likely to be, either. Gusts of wind buffeted me, pushing me as I crossed the open deck.
I turned my head to look through the glass doors into the large antechamber, and saw Treize sitting next to an elegant, low table – alone. A perfectly shaped goblet of wine was at his fingertips as he sat in one of the room's overstuffed chairs, reading. The light from the table lamp threw soft shadows across his body, so that he seemed to be bathed in a soft, warm glow, shining with a gentle radiance.
My breath caught in my throat. He was there, alone, and far enough away from the door that I would be able to shoot him without fear of retaliation. Perfect – it was perfect. The storm would cover any noise the gun made. I kept looking at him, and realized that he was perfect, too; his features were perfectly symmetrical; the light threw a soft focus on—
Gods, what are you thinking? I shook my head roughly, forcing my thoughts away from anything not involved with killing that man. It was much too easy to be distracted and confused by him, much too easy. Focus – pay attention to the task at hand. All you have to do is shoot him – that's all – no talking, no looking, no nothing. Just shoot him.
I pushed one of the frosted glass panels open with my one hand as I reached behind me with my other hand. I pushed my sweatshirt out of the way to expose the gun, then dropped my hand to my side and casually walked into the hall.
Treize sighed softly, as if what he was reading disappointed him in some manner. He carefully closed his book, placed it on the table next to him and looked up at me under lowered eyebrows. He did not appear surprised at all; in fact, he seemed to be expecting me.
"Ms. Po," Treize nodded, his gaze sharp and keen, his manner strangely formal. His blue eyes missed nothing at all.
"Treize," I replied, stopping just inside the door. This is as close as I dare, I decided. The nervousness I had successfully squelched before was asserting itself again, making small, doubtful inroads into my resolve. What if …
"Is it perhaps the weather that has made both of you so annoying today, Ms. Po?" Treize asked, regarding me with a weary air.
"Not at all, Treize," I answered, unsmiling, staring at him without blinking. "That's simply the way we are –"
And in one fluid motion, I reached behind me again, sank into a defensive stance, drew Une's weapon and pointed it at his chest, supporting and steadying it with my left hand.
"—annoying."
Treize continued to regard me from under hooded eyes; not only did he not seem surprised at the sudden turn of events, he made no move to protect himself at all.
"What would you like, Ms. Po?" he asked acidly, staring right at me. "Would you like me to stand? To turn my back, perhaps?"
Oh, gee, would you? cackled the snarky, irrepressible voice in my head.
~You'll pay for that, my girl.~
He stood up and moved to the side of the table with supple ease, his hands dropped lightly at his sides. If he was nervous, he gave absolutely no sign of it; instead, he stood in front of me calmly, unperturbed – almost as if he was offering himself, encouraging me to make my point.
Oh, my. Are you kidding? He didn't have to ask twice.
With a strained, cold smile, I sighted along the barrel to the center of his chest, murmured, "Goodbye, Treize," and tightened my finger on the trigger.
At that instant a thunderous voice sounded in my head – a voice so loud it made me blink and stagger, the volume so great that it shot a lancing, stabbing pain into my psyche, as if an icepick had been plunged into my head:
NO - !
I gasped out loud, my usual composure completely shattered. I was so shocked that my hand jerked up and over to the right, so that the shot that would have hit Treize dead in the heart was misdirected to his shoulder. My head throbbing in agony. I could only blindly gape in dismay – where – where did that come from …? ..who ..?
And suddenly it didn't matter at all, because Treize was on top of me, smothering me with his superior size and strength, moving so quickly that I could have sworn he had just vanished and reappeared. He pulled my right arm straight over my head so that the gun pointed at the ceiling and squeezed my hand, causing the weapon to drop harmlessly from my now numb fingers. At the same time his other hand clamped onto my left wrist, twisted my arm into the small of my back and pulled, pressing my body tight against his, crushing my breasts against his chest.
That same movement forced my chin up so I had no choice but to look at him. His gaze bored into mine – and I gasped, my jaw clenched, suddenly frightened and fighting to maintain control. A coldness, calculated and deadly, shone back at me from his eyes, exactly as it had after the incident with the wolf at the Luxembourg estate. I stared, unable to look or pull away, apprehension and dread simmering under a cracked mask of forced calmness.
There was something else there as well, something I was loathe to admit to myself, but something that I couldn't ignore. Part of me wanted him to mold every inch of his body to mine, pressing me back into blissful oblivion where I was surrounded by strong, masculine scents and feelings, gently drowning any choice I may have had in the force of his personality.
His eyes changed expression as he sighed and looked deeply into mine. "Indeed," he said evenly, nodding. "I think you need to take a nap, Sally."
I stared back at him helplessly. "Wha … what?" I stammered, staring up at him, unable to move even a muscle. I was lucky I was able to say anything at all.
His expression shifted again, and unexpectedly my right hand was released. At the same time I felt his long fingers questing from the base of my skull to the nape of my neck – and abruptly something that felt like a snapping, electric jolt whipped through my body, with an intense feeling of concentrated pain that followed closely on its heels. I knew I cried out.
The last thing I remember is the world turning black as my knees buckled and I felt myself slumping against Treize.
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