13: Fallen into enemy hands
Disclaimer: The first time belongs to finger eleven
I had never thought
We were hanging on
But the fall looks very far
Staring at the ground
What flesh will do to you
Will do to me too
Be free and on your own
Its not that simple
Its never that simple
It feels like the first time
That we'd fallen behind
And we faltered too far down
No one could save us
It feels like the first time
And we're standing about them
And no one can touch us
The worst is over
I could say to you
A bitter word or two
There's no stopping now
Just get it out in the air
Heard it through the fog
And hurt by it all
I'd take it back today
But its out of my hands
Lost in the film again
All the signs were showing
Watching a single frame
When the wind begins
You're never anywhere
All thought vanished from his mind the moment he dove into the icy water, his entire being screamed at him as the temperature dropped rapidly in his body, his vision was blurred and his mind was thrown into chaos. Trowa kicked his legs throughout the water approaching the system of pipes below his eyes darted wildly through the fogginess searching for Catherine. He wanted to go up for air but what strength he had was fleeting, Trowa had no iterations on using it on himself.
His lugs begged for air as he traveled above the system of pipes, his hope growing dim until he spotted something in the corner of his eye, he turned his head toward it making out the figure as a body. He swam as fast as he could without depleting the little air he had, his eyes began to grow heavy but he was determined to reach his desired destination.
His eyes widened slightly at the sight of Catherine's hair obscuring her face once he was close enough Trowa wrapped his arms around her before making his way back to the surface. The Latin American would glance at her from time to time as he made his way to the top, he could see the light just barely the closer he got. The desire to breathe was becoming stronger and stronger but he couldn't open his mouth just yet, Trowa's vision was failing him by the minute as well. Trowa's head came surfacing from the water his mouth open drinking in all the air he could before his brain remembered his body was in need of heat. Trowa tried his best to swim to the shore but his legs would not respond.
Quatre rushed out of the locker room after demanding Dorothy to stay where she was to see what the commotion was all about. He stopped in his tracks at the sight of the fallen Tallgese, a destroyed mobile suit, and the destroyed ice-ring wondering where the machine that caused such destruction had went to. He caught sight of Ryuusei at the edge of the ice ring with her arm extended over the water to Trowa and someone else in his grasp. "Oh no, Trowa!" The young man took off once again toward the ice ring. Quatre brought himself to an abrupt halt beside Ryuusei who looked up at him with fearful eyes. "Save Trowa, Quatre-sama!" She cried to him in Japanese.
Quatre nodded and stepped into the water unsure of how deep it was. His legs felt as though a hundred knives assaulted his skin but he did his best to ignore it as he swam over to the two. "Trowa, grab my hand, hurry!" He cried to his friend. Trowa brought his arm up from the water and grabbed the sleeve of Quatre's jacket as tight as he could. Quatre fought his hardest to get back to the edge of the ring, the moment he was close enough to it Ryuusei grabbed his jacket and pulled as hard as she could (with some help from the blonde). Ryuusei fell to the ground with a yelp, Quatre pulled himself Trowa, and Catherine up onto the snow out of breath, shivering.
Trowa brought his legs out of the water throwing his heavy jacket off his shoulders, he laid Catherine on the ground pushing her hair out of her face. He almost bit his tongue at the pale lifeless appearance her face held. "-C-Ca-cathy.... wake up.....," He stammered through his shivering. He shook her shoulders as hard as he could but she remained still, acting quickly he placed his hand atop her chest and began press against her chest timing himself with the rhythmic beat of his heart.
Water trickled down his lengthy bangs plastered to his face as he pressed down over and over on Catherine's chest his breathing borderlining hyperventilating. "Don't die, don't die, please don't die Catherine," He panted. Catherine's eyes remained closed, it was nearly over two minutes and Trowa continued to try and bring her back from death. Quatre held Ryuusei back watching his friend with grief-stricken eyes; he had never seen Trowa in such a state before not even when he was amnesiac. Trowa's arms began to ache with pain the more he continued the CPR there was still no change in Catherine's state.
His eyebrows narrowed his face contorted in anger, his lip quivered and began to pound his fist against her chest. "Come back--- Catherine! Your not supposed to die, your not supposed to die........ I'm supposed to die, I'm the solider not you!" He yelled, his voice was hoarse. Trowa pounded relentlessly against her chest amidst his tears and anger until he heard a strangled gargle followed by the touch of warm liquid upon his fist; coughing was the next thing he heard. Quatre's eyes widened in utter disbelief while Ryuusei squirmed in his arms trying to reach Trowa. He grunted and held her tight. Ryuusei would have none of it, she managed to slip from out his grasp and trot over to Trowa. "No, Ryuusei!" He hissed.
Trowa shifted his eyes toward Catherine's face. Her face was regaining color her pale blue eyes were staring straight up at sky full of confusion. "C-Catherine.....?" He uttered quietly. Catherine turned her head toward him in question her eyebrows knitted together, her hand reached up to his face. Trowa pulled her up from the ground by the waist embracing her tightly as if she would disappear.
"Don't do that to me Catherine.....," He breathed, his voice muffled by her wet hair. Catherine placed her hand over his head listening to his rapid heart beat. "Trowa...," She whispered. Trowa nodded simply happy she was alive and with him. Catherine smiled through what she believed to be her tears resting her eyes upon Ryuusei who stood an inch away from them, her innocent eyes watched with a sort envy that she never seen in young girl's eyes. Quatre climbed to his feet with a sigh wishing he had an extra pair of clothes because he knew there was a possibly he'd catch a terrible cold in these wet clothes.
There was a sort of calmness that washed over his thumping heart that had been aching the moment he left the locker room (much like he experienced in Serbia), Quatre knew then that there was something very wrong because the joyous feeling did not last long. A scream filled the air, his eyes shifted toward the locker room and he spotted Relena being yanked off the ground by her hair by a man dressed in black holding a gun. Several men came swarming out of the locker room, one of them had Dorothy flung over his shoulder. Ryuusei screamed catching the attention of Quatre, Trowa, Catherine, and the armored men across from them. "Its them!" She cried stepping back.
Trowa pulled himself up onto his feet hauling Catherine up along with him, he bent over and lifted the trembling Ryuusei up from the ground. He then placed her into Catherine's arms. "Cathy, I want you to get as far away from here as you can," Trowa instructed. Catherine shook her head in defiance. "I can't, I'm too cold, and I won't leave you!" She stated firmly, despite her quivering lips. "Catherine this isn't the time to be stubborn," He said. "They might hurt her for what she knows, I'm only asking you do this because I don't want either of your hurt. Please just do this for me...." Catherine's eyes averted themselves from Trowa taking a brief glance at the approaching men before nodding her head.
She gave the young man one last look before running off in the opposite direction toward the forest. Trowa could hear the men fast approaching he turned to meet them steadfast in his resolve. Quatre and Trowa stood where they were as the men came up to them ultimately surrounding them on all sides. "Gundam pilot 03 and 04, I ask that you come with us or will be forced to harm your companions," Their supposed leader demanded. Trowa's eyebrows knitted together when he took a quick glance behind him before returning his green-eyed gaze back to the man in front of him. The supposed leader looked over Trowa's shoulder catching a glimpse of Catherine as she vanished into the trees.
He smirked devilishly. "What are we to do about that girl and woman?" One of the men asked. Their leader shrugged with a look of indifference. "We'll give them a head start, they won't get far," Their leader locked gazes with Trowa whose temper was rising. "Gab 'em, the three of you go after those girls." Three men nodded then separated themselves from the rest of the group heading off in the direction that Catherine took off. Trowa tried to go after them but he was quickly brought to his knees by a blow to the head. "Trowa!" Quatre kneeled down to his friends side, Trowa held the bleeding part of his head tightly. Without remorse the men grabbed the two by the arms and dragged along toward their vans.
Une stared at Noin with a look of uncertainty, unable to believe what she was hearing. Leaning back in her chair she positioned her reading glasses upon the bridge of her nose before looking up at the young woman before her. "Your saying, that the respectable well-known senator Gabrielle Shore, has a hand in this little soon-to-be coup?" Une said, her voice was dark and held no emotion. Noin nodded glancing down at her stomach that still ached from the blow it received from Gabrielle. Noin nodded hesitantly her expression faltering at the sight of Une's face looking all the more displeased than before.
"Why is it that you thought telling me about this, was better than going after her?" Une asked haughtily. Noin swallowed nervously, knowing she would probably be suspended for not going after Gabrielle. "For starters I was unarmed she had taken my gun and l felt it was more important to tell you first, before things got out of hand," Noin explained rubbing her fingers against the preventer's badge nervously. Une scoffed at the young woman's explanation as she rose from her seat with a look of frustration, she stormed past Noin out of her office. Things are already out of hand, has she not realized this yet? Une thought angrily.
Noin reluctantly followed after her superior with feeling that someone wasn't right with the German woman. Une traveled through the winding corridor with her hands balled into fists as she tried to calm herself down, now was not the time for her temper to get the best of her. As she walked through the halls she spotted Eriol and his wife Jennie Wheeler flirting with each other instead of doing their job, Une sneered at their misbehavior as she came up to them.
Eriol stopped speaking in Jennie's ear long enough to catch Une coming their way; the two immediately straightened themselves in a more presentable way. "Hello, chief!" Eriol greeted in a chipper tone. Une rolled her eyes at the man before stopping before them. Noin came up behind them noticing Jennie was looking quite uncomfortable with Une around but she decided to say anything for the young woman's sake. "I thought I told you not to call me chief, Mr. Wheeler," Une stated folding her arms across her chest.
Eriol gave the older woman a hopeless shrug. "It's a bad habit, chief," Eriol replied sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. Une dismissed his comment as she opened her mouth to speak. "Have you heard of Gabrielle Shore, Mr. Wheeler?" Une asked. Eriol pondered for a moment then his eyes widened in realization. "Hai! She's that famous Russian senator I've heard so much about in the political newspapers! Why?" He said confused. Une almost reached out to choke him, it seemed that there was no one besides Zechs, Noin and the preventer 5 that knew about this soon-to-be-crisis. Everyone else was in the dark.
"We have reason to believe she is involved in recent disturbances in the United Earth Sphere, if you've heard about it?" The German woman said blandly. Eriol's eyes widened and he nodded explaining Zechs had told him. Une nodded in approval, at least the man knew what was going on. "I have a job for you and Mrs. Wheeler; I want you to make sure Gabrielle Shore is a wanted woman; put every available preventer on high-alert and on the look out for Shore! It is important that we find her before this situation gets out of hand," She explained. "Yes ma'am, I'll get right on it!" Eriol saluted Une and hurried down the hall past the two women with Jennie trailing behind him. Une smirked triumphantly before continuing down the hall to the communications room. Noin followed after her, the skiing feeling in her knotting stomach growing more by the minute. Une's behavior was more unsettling than usual.
Is this really happening? Mariemaia felt slightly uncomfortable in Jin's embrace the longer she stayed there, she could hear his rapid heart beat against her chest, his speedy breathing against her neck and the stiffness of his posture. Jin pulled himself out of the embrace red in the face, he hadn't expected Mariemaia to even let him near her. The two of them sat on their knees in front of each other, onyx blue locked in pale blue in a dizzying trance.
Jin swallowed hard running his hands through his unruly bangs breaking the trance. "Mariemaia, there's this thing I've gotta do...," He began nervously. "You overheard me talking to that Emid guy, right?" Mariemaia nodded skeptically watching his body's nervous movement, Jin paused for a moment noticing she was just staring at him so he glared at her. Mariemaia got the message and looked the other way, it wasn't what he wanted her to do but at least she wasn't staring at him anymore. "Your not going to kill him are you? Her question seemed almost hesitant, as if she didn't want to know but at the same time wanted to satisfy her curiosity. Mariemaia glanced at the young Korean who continued to glare at her.
"Whether you accept it or not, I'm going to stop this madness once and for all. I'm going to kill Margaret Cypher. She murdered my parents and she'll pay," He declared darkly. Mariemaia's head snapped back to Jin her face was that of disappointed one, Jin paid no attention to this as he climbed into the cockpit. "Revenge won't sole anything, you'll be no better than she is," Mariemaia stated firmly "How do you even know she killed your parents?" Jin shrugged as he buckled himself into the seat. Mariemaia sighed letting her head drop in defeat; trying to talk to him was trying to talk to a brick wall. Mariemaia climbed back onto Zero's hand preparing to be placed back onto the ground, there was no point in trying to talk him out of it, he simply wouldn't listen to her.
She grabbed the mobile suit's thumb positioning her legs beneath her so they wouldn't dangle over Zero's palm, as she did so Mariemaia's attention was brought up to cockpit by a whistle. Her gazed upon the darkness of the cockpit before the sight of something being tossed toward her caught her eyes she grabbed the falling object out of the air.
Mariemaia stared quizzically at the pendant upon the blue chain then looked up at the cockpit. "What's this for?" She asked, confused. "I'm sorry, Mariemaia," Mariemaia heard him say just as Wing Zero's arm lowered her to the ground. Mariemaia climbed off of it's hand with ease stepping back a good few feet away from the mobile suit as it rose to move forward, back to the mobile suit hangar. She watched with confused eyes as the cockpit closed up and the Gundam take one long stride through the snow.
Jin watched her through the monitor through the corner of his eye before trying the extra thrusters on Zero's back to see if they were enough to get it off the ground. To his dismay Wing Zero only moved across the ground as thought it were on the smoothest surface imaginable it did not rise from the ground. "Damn," He hissed before glancing the ever-watchful Mariemaia. He grinned ruefully "I probably won't ever see that pendant or her again ... its for the best I suppose....." Pushing his arms forward, he commanded Wing Zero to march forward. Mariemaia watched Zero walk father and father away from her before she glanced down at the shimmering pendant in question wondering why he would have such a thing with him. Maybe it belonged to his mother, Mariemaia tried to imagine what his mother would've looked like and maybe how he would've been if she were still alive.
Zechs jumped out of the cockpit of Tallgese III with a grunt when he landed on the ground, he examined his surroundings thoroughly before staring down at the footprints left behind in the snow, he stared at them curiously following their trail toward mass of trees a mile away from him. One set of tracks appeared to be smaller, more feminine than the ones that trailed behind it, those were muscular.
A woman holding something and a three men obviously after her, it wasn't surprising to him to say the least. Groaning he decided to follow after the tracks that lead into the mass of trees instead of going after the ones that separated from the three after the woman. Zechs ran through the snow in his boots that weren't exactly fit for this kind of whether, he groaned at the feeling of his leather boots getting soggy from running in the snow.
He dodged the trees in his way and other obstacles following the footprints as best he could at the speed he was going, he ran beside them in order to look down at them. After a moment of running Zechs' pace had fallen into a jog, the cold had gotten to him. He cursed to himself for not coming better prepared. Suddenly a distant cry caught his attention, his ears perked up at the human sound. Wasting no time Zechs broke into a run.
Ahead of him, Catherine tumbled through the snow with Ryuusei in her arms, her body shook with tremors of her own chattering teeth. Her wet hair felt as though it were frozen stiff as she continued to waddle through the knee deep snow, she looked back behind and to her dismay she found men hot on her trail. Ryuusei clutched to her shoulders for dear life while Catherine trudged forward in a sluggish motion. Catherine could hear Ryuusei speaking to her in mangled English she barely understood the slower she got.
She figured the little girl was telling her to get a move one before they caught her but try as she might, her legs were shaking from the cold and she couldn't move any faster than she was to her dismay. Ryuusei watched hopelessly as the men got closer to them, soon she began to cry at the thought of being caught by them all over again. "Please don't cry, nothing will happen!" Catherine exclaimed, beginning to panic herself. The young woman grabbed the side of tree trunk and pulled herself up a majority of the hill in one swift tug.
Catherine used all her strength to clim the rest of the steep hill, once she was atop of it she broke into a run abandoning all reason, her heart pounded against her chest the faster she went. She held Ryuusei tight in her arms knowing Trowa would kill her if anything happened to the child or herself. "Stop!" Catherine cocked her eyebrow in question; why would Ryuusei want her stop when those men were right be--- Catherine's thoughts were cut off the moment she felt her foot touch the air. The 19-year-old stumbled back in fear the moment she saw the edge of the cliff her foot went over, the young woman's mouth quivered in fear when she turned back to see the men coming up the hill. "Oh God, no...," Catherine whispered fearfully stepping back slightly.
Duo groaned as the world around him came back to him, his arm ached with a dull mind-numbing pain he experienced many times before in the past as he rolled over on what he believed was the injured side of his body. When he opened his eyes he was greeted by darkness, swallowing hard Duo pushed himself into a sitting position listening to his ragged breathing.
The drugs they used on him were still in his system but he was coherent enough to know that he was alone in a dark place or so he thought. Using his uninjured arm he searched the back of his arm to see if they that had left the dart in his skin but to his relief they did not, Duo sighed bringing his hand to his pounding head. "I feel like I've been sucker punched," He moaned ready to fall over. A shifting noise across from him followed a distinctive grunt he couldn't forget if he tried reached his ears. His braid whipped over his shoulder the moment he turned his head toward the origin of the sound. "Heero?" He whispered. "Is that you?"
Heero climbed up off the ground from the fetal position he was in, he nodded. "Hai, it's me," Heero replied rubbing the back of his neck. The Japanese ex-pilot could hear his comrade chuckle wearily, he wondered what could have been so funny. "What?" He uttered. "I was just thinking about the rotten luck we have, if anything we should've die in the war; they're probably wouldn't be so many rebel factions after us, you know?" Duo chuckled brushing his bangs out of his eyes. Heero snorted at the irony of the statement the American made.
Yes, it was true, there wasn't any time of day that Heero wished that he had died instead of lived through the war. In the past years there had been so many rebels rising up to finish what others hadn't and tried to bribe them into joining their cause. They objected a hundred times and like locus the enemies continued to grow in number and disturbed the peace more so than war itself had. And it was all because of their and their Gundam's existence.
Heero closed his eyes and shook his head. "There's no point in wishing for death, Duo. Not now," Heero stated. "There's too much we haven't done, too many people we've come care about to want to die. Its a pointless wish." The American stared down at what he could see of his arm as he processed everything his comrade had said to him. To wish for death is pointless? Why is it that it come after us so much? He thought closing his eyes. "Heero is right," Came a voice.
Both young men's heads turned toward the direction the voice came from squinting through the darkness at the figure that leaned up against the wall, his hands bound together by a thick rope (although they couldn't see all of this). "Wufei?" They said in unison, surprised. Wufei opened his eyes glancing toward the figures on the floor be believed to be his most trusted comrades. "It's me," He said simply closing his eyes again. Duo climbed off of the ground with a grunt rubbing the back of his head where the aching had retreated to, he strode over to Wufei, his usual smile replaced with a gloomy expression.
Wufei watched the American lean up against the wall beside him with a groan, Wufei glanced at the taller young man with a look indifference. "Brings back memories don't it?" Duo sighed flexing his fingers causally. "I suppose," Wufei yawned tiredly. "Now all that's missing is the lack of air to breathe." Duo's face faltered for a brief moment as he contained the urge to laugh at his friend's comment, he swallowed an upcoming laugh trying his best to straighten his face.
Wufei glanced at him in the corner of his eye with a questioning expression as to why he was shifting his position so much. Heero rolled his eyes climbing to his feet as well just as the door slid open and light spilled into the cell. The three of them winced the moment the light reached their eyes. Three figure's stepped inside the cell blocking some of the light. Wufei and Duo came up beside Heero as the two figures came striding down the stairs. "That's all five," A strong feminine announced almost proudly.
All three ex-pilots shifted their gaze toward the two figures that stopped in front of them recognizing them as Quatre and Trowa. Heero turned and glared at the smiling woman across from them. "Who are you and what do you want with us?" He demanded angrily. Margaret stared down at the five young boys her smile growing by the minute. "I want you allegiance," She stated simply. All five teenagers stared up at her, unimpressed expressions on their faces. Isn't that what everybody wanted of them? Duo stepped up in front of his four friends his hand balled into a fist. "Where's Hilde?!" He demanded.
TBC....