Chapter 5
Ever since they left the others, Trowa and Savannah walked quickly next to each other down the road; they were in a hurry.
"What's the name of your Gundam?" Savannah asked attempting to make conversation.
"Heavyarms," he replied looking ahead.
"And Heero's?" she inquired.
"Wing Zero. How long have you known Shiane?" he asked walking more quickly.
She compensated, "I've known her and Lucy since we were very small children," she replied as she dodged a stray branch lying in the road.
"Did you listen to the stories that Lady Une told Shiane?" he inquired looking at her.
"Yes. The three of us went to Grandma Collins's house and listened to every story she could tell us," Savannah said unaware of his deep green eyes probing her face.
"Did she tell you if they were true or just stories?" he asked looking ahead again.
"She told us they were true, and though I can't remember most of the stories, I remember just about every single one concerning Duo."
"Can you remember at least one of the stories?" he asked.
"Yeah. There was one where a ten year old little girl named Veronica Khushrenada who wanted to rule the world. I remember being told that she was a redhead and the daughter of Treize Khushrenada," she said looking up at him. Trowa looked a little startled at her simple retelling of the story.
"What…What's the matter?" she asked with a hint of worry.
"Was there anybody else helping Lady Une tell that story?" Trowa asked stopping in his tracks.
Savannah stopped too and turned to look in his face. His face looked a little firm when she answered him.
"Yes. Once in a while Mrs. Maremeia would assist in telling it. She was able to fill in more details at crucial points."
"Are you sure?" Trowa said placing his hands on either of Savannah's shoulders. He looked down into her blue-brown eyes as she answered.
"Yes, I'm sure. Why?" she asked nervously. He dropped his hands when he sensed her nervousness and replied,
"Because the little girl's name was not Veronica. It was Maremeia." After that he started walking swiftly again.
It was so dark she couldn't stay behind for long, and she ran to catch up with him. She thought about what he just told her while she walked next him. She couldn't believe that Mrs. Maremeia would change her name in the story, but then again she understood why.
They were silent until they saw headlights from a car driving their way.
The car stopped beside them, so they stopped too.
The person in the car rolled down their window.
"Are you kids lost?" the driver asked them.
"No. Me and my…brother," Savannah said looking at Trowa, "are going to our family's hangar. We're supposed to meet our parents there, but we're running a little late." She was glad that it was dark so the driver couldn't see exactly what they looked like. They probably wouldn't be able to pull this lie off in the daylight.
"How far is it?" he asked.
"Not very far. But it's too dark to tell," Trowa said standing behind Savannah. He placed a hand on her shoulder like a big brother would do and said, "but me and my little sister will make it."
"You can't go. It's too dark. Let me give you a ride there," the driver insisted.
"Okay. As long as we're no trouble," Savannah replied slowly.
"No trouble at all. Get in," he said, "Now just tell me which way to go," the driver continued.
Savannah and Trowa climbed into the back and settled themselves, buckling the seat belts, and then the girl leaned forward to give the directions.
After he knew where they were going, the driver asked, "What are your names?"
"I'm Sarah and this is Ted." Savannah replied. She didn't want to give out their real names just in case him helping some teenagers got around. She didn't want her parents to know exactly what happened and she would keep it that way.
"I'm James," he replied.
They were silent until James stopped the car and said, "We're at the driveway into the hangars. I have to leave you here, but I've got to go!"
The two teens disembarked from the car and crossed to the gate.
Sometime later Shiane stirred and woke up, a bit confused as to why she was out of doors.
"Where…Oh that's right." she mumbled rubbing her eyes. She looked around to realize that it must be very early in the morning; the sky was just a tiny bit lighter than it had been when she went to sleep, but it was still quite dark at the moment.
Shiane looked around for the others and could only see Hilde and Lucy sleeping next to her. She stood up to stretch and look for the others. She saw Duo sleeping on the shoulder of Deathscythe. Quatre was also sleeping, but on the foot of Sandrock. She walked a few steps until she found Heero sleeping behind both of the Gundams, leaning against a tree. She shook her head when she saw him, a small smirk on her lips. She couldn't understand how some people could sleep standing up.
As she glanced at her watch she found that she could barely read the hands, but managed to find out that it was about three in the morning.
She went back over to where she had been sleeping and sat down, listening to the sounds of early morning. The crickets were chirping among other sounds made by other insects and occasional songs from very early birds.
About an hour later Shiane heard someone coming towards the Gundams and them. It sounded like the person was running through all the dead leaves and bushes. It was as if the person didn't care how much noise they were making.
"If it was Trowa or Savannah, they would have already said so," she thought.
Rising to her feet she paused to quickly stretch and then hurried over to Quatre. She shook him until he opened his eyes and started blinking them.
"Wha…What's the matter Shiane?" he asked coming down to the ground. By the time his feet were firmly on the ground, he was wide awake, his body alert.
"Somebody's coming closer in our direction but it's not Trowa or Savannah!" she whispered frantically. She could hear the person coming closer by the minute. Quatre could hear the person as well as Shiane, if not better and his body tensed, ready for whatever could happen.
"What about the Gundams? We can't hide them now!" he exclaimed looking around. He stood there looking around and then back at Shiane until she answered,
"I don't know! I'll make up a story!" Shiane cried her mind racing. She left Quatre so she could go wake up Hilde, Duo and Lucy. She shook Hilde and Lucy until they woke but Shiane had to find a couple of small pebbles to throw at Duo to wake him up. She threw the first one, but it missed him by about two feet or so and a good foot to the left of his entire body. But the second one she threw hit him in the elbow, since he had folded his arms behind his head.
"What?" he cried jerking awake. Without falling off the shoulder of his Gundam he looked around angrily to find who threw the stones. Looking down at the ground he spotted Shiane and when he saw her, his anger disappeared. He guessed that she would only wake him up is something was wrong. Quatre didn't need to wake up the last member of their group, because Heero woke up just hearing the sound Shiane's panicky voice.
Shiane turned away from Duo just in time to see a middle-aged man burst out of the bushes.
When he saw the others and Shiane, the man gave a startled cry and stopped dead in his tracks. He wasn't expecting people to be out there. He looked at each of them in turn before saying,
"You are on private property! And I-oh my!" he exclaimed gazing at the Gundams behind them. "What are those things? Who do they belong to, and what are they doing here?" he asked angrily. His anger came from finding people for the most part. But finding that they were all teenagers made him instantly suspicious. Teenagers, no matter what country, always had bad reputations for doing things to property, bullying people and just sneaking around. Great Britain was no different.
"Go along with whatever I say, okay?" Shiane whispered to the guys and Hilde. She knew that Lucy would go along with anything she came up with. They looked suspicious but nodded their heads. "These things, as you call them, are Gundams. And they belong to me," Shiane spat at the angry man. "We were taking them to someone, but it got dark so we stopped to rest and wait for the first light of day," she added firmly.
"What if I say I don't believe you? What then?" he sneered. The man crossed his arms and stood in front of them staring with a glint of disbelief in his eyes. He apparently wasn't buying the story. That made Shiane speechless but it didn't make Duo the same.
"Well, you'll just have to take our word for it. Now won't you?" Duo replied casually stepping in front of Shiane.
"Who is the person you're taking these Gundams to?" he asked suspiciously dropping his arms. He took a step back when Duo stepped forward.
"Lady Collins," Shiane said nonchalantly.
"Lady Collins! Do you know what she's going to do with those?" he asked pointing at the Gundams. Without waiting for any kind of reply he answered, "She's going to give them to someone who will destroy them!" With that, the man disappeared with a smile playing on his face.
"Who could he be talking about? I didn't know she was having mobile suits destroyed, let alone collecting them," Shiane said.
"It probably wasn't even true," Hilde replied. "I don't think Lady Une would do that. Especially when she doesn't know if the pilots are alive and because you, Lucy, and Savannah like the stories she told you. " she added quietly to Shiane.
"I want to find out what's going on! I wish Trowa and Savannah were here right now." Shiane cried walking away quickly but stopped when she heard a loud noise.
"You just might get your wish Shiane." Heero said his eyes gazing up at the star-filled sky.
Shiane looked up and saw a familiar looking plane.
"Hey that's Savannah's family's plane!" she cried. She watched them land and she ran over to Savannah as she opened the door and stepped out. They hugged quickly and walked over to the rest of the group.
"We'll leave around sunrise," Duo announced. It gave them plenty of time to do last minute things and also gave them resting time. Savannah took Shiane and Lucy aside and told them what Trowa had told her.
TBC