22: So Far away..... distant memory of hope!
(Disclaimer: Flying away is property of Sunrise and King records)
Beyond the burnt-out horizon,
A single ray of the morning sun is shining
Even if you are hurt, don't forget your smile
Let's search for the tomorrow when we will meet again
Farewell, you birds who set off into the eastern sky
The world will always embrace all of you
On the morning when you have lost even your tears,
Once again, something new will begin
If it is something you can't reach no matter how you pursue it
Catch onto this hand even at the risk of your life
FLYING AWAY, I want to fly away just as my heart leads
FLYING AWAY, for you I would race across the sky,
FLYING...
Farewell, you birds who set off into the eastern sky
The world is always waiting for you
FLYING AWAY, I want to fly away, drifting on the wind
FLYING AWAY, because of you I could become free,
FLYING...
Trowa trudged behind the others his hand grasping Jin's wrist as tight as he could as he and the young Korean helped each other down the hall. Trowa did his best to ignore Jin's pained expression that weaved its way through his drowsy and pale face, they needed to keep moving. Ahead of him Lady Une lead the way, scouting most of the halls they previously came down from in case of any danger, she would go ahead before any of them could follow. So far there hadn't been any problems but Trowa still carried the feeling of uneasiness with him because of the heavy injuries the 13-year-old suffered, if they happened to be attacked, Quatre, Dorothy, and Jin would be useless to Lady Une, because they had no weapons to protect themselves with and Trowa only had a few bullets left in his gun.
Gah! He had stop being so paranoid! Trowa pulled himself out of his thoughts as the five of them stepped out of the corridor and into a room that appeared to a lounge of some sort for the soldiers. Trowa watched as Lady Une lowered her gun at the sound of static amongst broken voices from her two-way radio hanging on the rim of her skirt. Looking down the German woman placed her gun into its holster, then removed the radio from her side bringing it up to her lips. "What is it?" She responded in her usual, deadpan voice. Trowa did not bother to listen in on the incoming transmission on the radio, he moved toward a couch he spotted when they entered the room, removing Jin's arm from around his shoulder he lowered the boy's body onto the couch careful not to touch his side.
Jin's eyes opened halfway he scanned his surroundings while Trowa untied the jacket from around his waist, the feeling of dried blood against his skin and the jacket was uncomfortable to him as Trowa peeled it away from his body, he winced slightly looking down through his eyelashes at Trowa's worn face as his skinny hands pressed at the broken skin on his side. "So how am I?" Trowa tensed mentally at the sound of Jin's voice aginst his dry throat. His green eyes stared down at his hands covered in dried flaking blood for a moment before answering Jin. "I won't lie to you, Jin. You could die," Trowa responded, retying the jacket around his waist. Jin shrugged putting on a false smirk.
"Doesn't matter," The 13-year-old whispered solemnly. Trowa glared at his so called friend only for a second before he felt someone's hand on his shoulder, the Latin American glanced up at Quatre who seemed to gesture to someone behind him. Sighing, Trowa rose from his crouched position before leaning over to grasp Jin's arm, the Korean recoiled from Trowa's grasp, a shudder escaped the young man's lips. I've got no patience for this, Trowa thought grabbing Jin by the waist. Quatre's eyes widened at the rough manner his friend had grabbed Jin he watched as the tall teenager placed Jin on his feet. He had never seen Trowa act the way he had just now. Trowa bent down slightly throwing Jin's arm over his shoulder before looking at the surprised blonde in front of him.
Jin did not feel like he had the strength to rebel against the ex-pilot 03 he cooperated with him instead, letting the 17-year-old help him across the floor toward Lady Une and Dorothy who stood at the exit of the lounge. "I've received word, that all rebels within the area of the base have been caught," The Lady explained. "I've given the rest of the preventers orders to head back to HQ, where the rebels will be held in our cells until the rightful punishment or Jail sentence is given out to them." Both young men nodded noticing that Une seemed to have her eyes set upon Jin when spoke of rightful punishment and a Jail sentence, however, they would not speak of it. The last thing any of them needed was an angry Une on their hands.
Quatre averted his eyes toward Dorothy who appeared to be busy fiddling with a computer pad bolted on the wall beside the exit, she looked intent on whatever she was doing and Quatre knew better than to disturb her when she was engrossed in finding something. "Aha," Was the first thing that Dorothy said, never taking her eyes of the small screen. "The level were approaching now, should take us to the exit of this base," Dorothy turned the screen off, she turned to meet all four gazes in the room with her trademark smile smoothing out her eyebrows. Une paid no attention to this before walking out of the room in a brisk manner, Dorothy followed after her in the same manner knowing they'd have to hurry if they wanted to keep Une in their sight.
Trowa began to walk forward groaning at the ache in his muscles when Quatre stepped in front of him looking more worried than Catherine did when he did tightrope tricks by himself, Trowa sent his friend an inquiring look. "You look like you need a break Trowa, why don't you go ahead, I'll carry Jin," The concern in Quatre's voice was evident. Trowa paused for a moment examining the Arabian teen's face before giving in, he removed Jin's arm from over his shoulders allowing Quatre to take the boy into his grasp. Jin shivered at the warmth he felt radiating from Quatre's body, he suddenly felt safe when the blonde flung his arm his shoulder and place a supportive arm around his waist. Trowa pulled his gun out from his pants and headed out of the room, Jin breathed a silent sigh of relief as he and Quatre followed after him. Feeling drowsy he closed his eyes letting as an image of a smiling Mariemaia appeared before his eyes, he gave the girl a boyish grin. Mariemaia made a face before she giggled.
Zechs watched as Noin ushered everyone out of the park over the loud speaker of her mobile suit, he surprised to see these people of all different race moving a moderate pace, not one was trying to run the other over. He scanned his part of the area to make sure no was dawdling behind everyone else, soon his mind drifted to entire situation around them; none of it made any sense. The elaborate plots that seemed to spring off in different directions, the disappearance of the Preventer 5 along with his sister and the others that might have joined them on his winter vacation, felt to him like it was planned at the last second and was merely fitted into the grand scheme of whatever they planned on doing.
Perhaps this threat was more unorganized than Mariemaia's..... or rather his attempt to revive operation meteor, which wasn't surprising to him, but all the same enough to arouse his curiousity. His blue eyes followed the ever-growing line of people leaving the mountain area and back to the lodges where he hoped it was safe for them. Averting his eyes skyward he began to wonder if the other Preventers that Noin came with had apprehended the threat to peace or if Une had indeed gotten the help she needed. The platinum blonde let out of a small growl scratching the back of his head with one hand as if he thought it would rid him of the overwhelming feeling of a distorted thoughts from thinking about far too much.
Returning his hand back to the controls Zechs' eyes traveled over to Noin's Taurus suit that came up beside Tallgese. "What is it Noin?" He asked. "Everyone has been evacuated from the area. However, I doubt those lodges are out of range from the blast radius," Noin mused. Zechs couldn't help but grin at Noin's lack of optimism, which was new coming from his partner who was always hopeful if not optimistic. However, her tone of voice indicated something was definitely on her mind and he was not one to let Noin's musings grind at her nerves and what focus she had. "Is there something wrong Noin?" Zech asked.
He heard a short intake of breath from the silent female preventer knowing he had hit the nail on its head with perfect precision. Now all he had to do was get her to open up about what was bothering her. "No, why do you ask?" The dark-haired woman replied. "I get the feeling your hiding something from me, is all," He replied offhandedly. There was a low groan from Noin over his COM-link Zechs wondered if she was getting a headache from all the effort she was putting up in order to avoid his answering questions. "Noin ... please tell me what's bothering you," Zechs spoke tentatively. There was a moment of silence giving Zechs the distinct feeling that Noin had shut off her COM-link as her way of telling him she didn't want to be bothered with his questions.
Sighing the 22-year-old leaned back in his seat checking his map that he had minimized and moved to the far corner of the screen. "Its' Gabrielle," Noin's late replay snapped the blonde's attention back to the COM-link. Noin's sulking face replaced everything that was on his screen, he pushed up from the back of his chair focusing his blue eyes on hers. "What?" He said blinking. Noin sighed again before responding. "Senator Shore, my friend..... former friend. I can't believe she would cause all this trouble just to become the next Vice foreign minister, that she would go as far as killing so many innocent lives to get what she wants," Noin whispered. "That's what's bothering me, Zechs." Zechs nodded in knowing what she was going through. Not everyone is what you expected them to be, He thought solemnly.
Groaning the 22-year-old stretched his arms out before grasping the maneuvering controls ignoring the ache in his shoulders. Noin had been awaiting a response from her partner but all she got was silence, she stared into the wandering eyes of the platinum blonde. There was something bothering him as well but she knew better than to try to get him open up and tell her what he was hiding behind that stony expression he always wore. It was a mask worse than the one he used to wear. "....Anyway, we should head back to HQ," Noin looked up at her screen giving the blonde an inquiring look of her own wondering why Zechs would want to go back to Preventer headquarters before even knowing if his sister or their friends were all right? Groaning inwardly the short-haired woman pressed her feet down on the pedals they rested on while her right hand grasped the handle above her head pushing it forward.
The Taurus transformed into its flight mode, Zechs' eyebrows arched in bewilderment and confusion just as the mobile suit blasted off toward the Alliance Military base, swallowing back a curse of annoyance the European man turned the Tallgese around and followed after the Taurus mobile suit. "Noin, just what do you think you're doing?!" He shouted, not bothering to hide the frustration in his voice. "Zechs, I know your worried about Relena, so we're going to see if Lady Une or the others have found her," Noin replied in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone. "Don't try to hide it from me. You should know by now, there's no point in trying to hide anything from me." Zechs swallowed a prideful response giving Noin the pleasure of finding him out, she and those insightful eyes of hers was going to be the death of his pride one day.
Eriol Wheeler stood outside of the interrogation room leant up against the one-way window watching as his wife's body language as she walked around the table Gabrielle Shore sat in front of, both women looked worn out from all the time they were spending inside the small inclosed room but Eriol knew only one of them would give out first and he hoped and preyed to God it was Shore, because he hated to see his wife the way he was seeing her now. Her face sagging, her hair looking less than neat, and her clothes more wrinkled than her overworked hands after sorting paper work.
Even her stockings appeared more wrinkled more than usual, he groaned shifting his gaze toward Gabrielle she appeared calm and steady in her resolve but the tiny piles of torn pieces of paper in front of her said otherwise, her hands were trembling and tearing at a blank piece of paper. Gabrielle was afraid she was going to be thrown in jail; a most horrible place to be, not that he knew first hand, but he certainty didn't need to go there, all he had to do was look at the terrified looks on the what the police would call "hard-asses," thieves, rebels and so many others who were sentenced to Jail.
Eriol shivered mentally, before returning his gaze to his wife. He could hear everything Jennie was saying to Gabrielle Shore as she circled around her again for what seemed like the umpteenth time, she was accusing her for the kidnapping of Relena Darlain and making accusing about her less than perfect background along with several dirty dealings she had with former OZ, concerning illegal use of weapons, rare mobile suit parts, and other objects that the UESA had banned when they sought to bring peace and order to world with their newly formed military power, before they became a militaristic power themselves. Its how Gabrielle got her job as senator of Russia, but that information was never released to the public. Eriol saw Gabrielle tense up at the mention of her background information.
"So, what is that you have against Miss Darlain, Senator Shore?" Jennie asked pausing behind Gabrielle. The raven haired woman glanced to the side a deep scowl shadowing her beautiful features, Gabrielle remained silent, her mind was in a state of turmoil. If only she had killed Noin she wouldn't be sitting an interrogation room being picked and prodded at by a Preventer, and a shoddy looking one at that. But no, she had to go and ramble to her former friend how she was going to succeed in her plans as if Noin wasn't going to do anything.
Gabrielle should've know better than to let her ego get the best of her. She swallowed looking up at Jennie with fire in her eyes hiding all traces of guilt or any knowledge of what she was talking about. "I have nothing against, Relena Darlain, miss Wheeler," She replied simply, folding her arms and leaning back in her chair. "Nor do I know what you are talking about." Jennie suppressed a chuckle. "I'm sure you do," Jennie scoffed. "You and I both know that you did indeed orchestrate this entire ordeal, and your going to spend your life underneath the jail facility." Gabrielle glared at the woman as she began to circle her again, her eyes followed Jennie's every movement hatred flared hungrily in her. The senator hoped Margaret Cypher was holding up her end of their bargain.
"You have nothing but speculation, preventer!" Gabrielle sneered rising from her chair. "You can't get me to talk!" Jennie slammed the palms of her hands down onto the table that stood between them her nostrils flaring with every shuddering breath she took, their eyes met in a standoff, a battle of wills, neither one of them willing to back down. Eriol cringed at the tension he sensed inside the room, knowing better than to let something that could and can be avoided happen the young man pushed off away from the one-way window and headed for the door. He gripped the door knob opening the door startling both women.
Jennie breathed a silent sigh of relief as she rose from her bent position putting on her best smile for her husband. Running her hands through her hair she strode away from the table in a slow manner showing for the first time in hours the weariness she felt inside of her from the long hours spent in the interrogation room, but before she stepped over the threshold that would take out of the small room and into the hallways Jennie turned to meet Gabrielle one last time. "If you are not as innocent as you play at Senator Shore," She began quietly. "Then, you won't mind if we tell the ESUN your dirty dealings that somehow managed to land you your current job will be exploited."
Eriol gave his wife a warning sort of look when he saw the Senator's impassive face replaced with that of a mixed expression of hate, fear, and disbelief. "You wouldn't dare!?" Gabrielle blurted. Jennie smirked slyly. "Unless you confess, you better damn well believe I will," Without another word spoken the female preventer excused herself from the room as Eriol shut the door. Gabrielle was left in the room alone her mouth slightly agape. She fell back into her chair, numbness clouding her senses and before she knew what had happened, Gabrielle screamed; "All right I'll tell you! I'll tell you everything!" Her desperate plead was answered by the opening of the door. Eriol and Jennie stood before her with coy looks upon their face.
Catherine came trotting up the stairs, Ryuusei was wrapped in one of Heero's sheets fast asleep against her chest. She hummed lightly to herself as she raised her foot of the last stair and stepped onto the soft rug at the top of the stairs, she shifted Ryuusei once more revealing her arms of the ache that was forming in her muscles, Catherine hadn't expected the little girl to be so heavy! She woman strode down the hall walking around the railing of the stairs toward Mariemaia and Jin's bedroom, she felt Ryuusei shift in her sleep her small fists clutching at the fabric of her shift.
Catherine's mind was suddenly filled with memories of her late younger brother Trition and how he used to clutch at her skirt when they were left alone at home while their parents were out shopping. His large cystal blue eyes were the most beautiful thing she had ever laid eyes upon, before she met Trowa. Catherine stopped in front of door and kicked it open with the tip of her foot. Mariemaia who had been slipping into a dry blue cotton sweater and a pair of her snow boots jumped away from her dresser alarmed when she saw the door open, her fears however, were dampened quickly when Catherine poked her head inisde her curls bouncing enthusiastically around her jawline.
"Hey, I need someplace I can put Ryuusei," The knife-thrower whispered. Mariemaia sighed in annoyance gesturing to her bed, Catherine stepped inside looking uncertain at first but headed toward Mariemaia's bed with swift speed then placed Ryuusei down in the middle making sure Heero's sheet was still wrapped around the girl's small body. Mariemaia's pale blue eyes shifted toward Jin's empty bed noting that he hadn't made his bed up, most of the sheets were draped over the bottom of the bed, while the rest of the laid in a heap on the floor.
He must've had another nightmare, she thought sadly walking over to the bed. Mariemaia settled herself down beside the pillow taking the messy enviroment Jin liked to live in then compaired it to her side of the room. Ying and Yang, she thought with a giggle. Catherine stood up right from tucking Ryuusei in to stare at the unsual happy expression on Mariemaia's face wondering what could've brought it on. Turning away from the girl's bed Catherine headed toward the door way. "Mariemaia, I'm going to make us something to eat, you want soup?" She asked. Mariemaia looked up from the heap of sheets on the floor at Catherine's bright face before asking what the older woman had said to her.
"I said, I was going to make us something to eat, would like some soup. My specialty," Catherine repeated. Mariemaia stared at her for a moment before giving her a nod. Catherine returned the nod and headed out of the room humming, the red-orange haired girl sighed falling back on Jin's bed unitentionally inhaling the musty smell of the sheets mingled with Jin's 'boy' smell. She turned her head to the alarm clock that resided on Jin's dresser; it read 11:13PM, although it was hardly dark outside to even indicate it had grown so late. Come back soon, Jin, Mariemaia released a shuddering sigh.
Heero made a grunting noise when Relena's firm grasp around his arm loosened, pressure on his dislocated leg traveled upward through his spine sending his mind a message; his injured leg was in pain. Swallowing he dropped his weapon and gripped Relena's hand pulling his weight off his leg startling the young Government official although he paid no attention to her gasp. Heero's eyes were focused on the shallow breathing of the thick-red-haired woman in front of them, her gun aimed at the five of them. Margaret's hand clutched the part of her chest where she had been shot, even though the bleeding had stopped dizziness engulfed most of her senses making it hard to focus on the figures in front of her, she kept her hand steady.
"Did you really think, I'd leave without fulfilling my contract?" Margaret sneered shaking her hair out of her face. Heero sent a cold glare in her direction wishing he hadn't dropped his weapon. "The thought had crossed my mind," He replied blatantly. Margaret's brown eyes shifted toward the wall of the base, her tongue swam in a mouth-full of blood she had recently coughed up, the feeling of her life span growing short wasn't a pleasant experience, mentally or physically. Of course they would all die before she ever got the chance, she'd see to that personally. Swallowing the mouthfull of blood the woman gestured to the rifle in Wufei's hand. "Drop you weapons," Margaret ordered, her eyes upon Wufei, Duo, and Hilde. Duo raised his arm with the hand in the cast with a slightly miffed expression on his face indicating he was showing he had no weapon on him.
Wufei dropped the rifle he had slung over his shoulder, Hilde raised her hands up the same as Duo had. "I've got no weapons on me," She announced in a fairly steady voice. Margaret saw she had no reason to not believe the girl, however, she had plenty reason to distrust Duo Maxwell, shifting her raised arm from the center of their group, aiming her gun at the thick strap that held Duo's sling in place. Duo's eyes widened, turning quickly he threw his leg up making contact with the girl's midsection, Hilde yelped in surprise as she fell and hit the cold ground. Margaret grunted in annoyance just as she pulled the trigger on the braided teenager, Duo felt the searing heat of the bullet whiz past his shoulder.
The tight feeling the sling had applied to his shoulder had vanished, replaced by a pain Duo knew was coming from his broken arm. Swallowing back a scream he gripped his broken arm and kept it elevated careful not to flex his fingers. Duo looked up through his mess of bangs gritting his teeth. "G-- Damn you," He hissed. Hilde groaned lifting herself off the ground, she spotted the sling draped across the ground no longer supporting Duo's arm, the German teenager moved quickly and came up beside the braided American. "Duo!?" Hilde whispered. Duo sent a reassuring grin in her direction despite the pain he was in, he swallowed hard when Hilde snaked her arm underneath his and placed her hand gently upon his forearm. "T-thanks," He groaned falling back on her.
Margaret kept the gun aimed at Duo while her eyes averted toward Heero and Relena. "That was uncalled for!" Relena exclaimed. The 44-year-old shrugged, as she removed her hand from her chest and reached into jacket. Heero watched her with intent eyes as she removed her hand from the inside of her jacket revealing a small remote with not a single button on it except the one that was underneath her thumb, Heero's eyebrows raised in suspicion. "What's the idea?" He asked out pure curiosity, although he had pretty good idea what was happening. Margaret swallowed another wad of blood that crept up her throat, the tangy taste of it was downright uncomfortable to even stand at times, she would have to grow used to it.
"Simple; if I were ever to fail my mission I was to destroy all evidence of my existence or involvement of this little coup. Since I've failed my mission altogether, I will fulfill my contract," The red-haired woman grinned slyly rasing the detonator into view. Heero's eyes maintained their unreadable expression, he wondered if she knew there was no way to destroy the base with the missile's out of commission. Unless there was a fail-safe he missed there was no way Margaret could kill them. "Fat chance," Wufei retorted, making his presence known. "We've disabled all your missile's, so its impossible for you kill us with an explosion." Margaret sneered at the smug sound of the Chinese preventer's voice, the look on both his and Heero Yuy's face was undoubtedly the triumphant look of a Gundam pilot, a look Jin had given her back he was no older than seven years old.
He had gotten into a fight with the elementary school bully and won, but suspended from school for two weeks, he bore a bruised cheek and black eye but he said it was all worth it. Stop that! You can't be thinking, like this! Margaret brushed the thought aside, smothering the nostalgia inside her with anger. "A shame," Margaret whispered loud enough for the five of them to hear. "A shame, you went through all that trouble for nothing..... Gundam pilots. I can still destroy this base, I made this detonator my fail-safe just in case someone like you pulled a stunt like that." Relena's eyes widened she turned to meet the equally surprised Prussian blue eyes of the Japanese teenager beside her, her blue eyes averted toward Margaret who wore a crooked grin on her face. "Of course, if your willing to hand over the Vice foreign minister, I'll be more than glad to spare your lives," Margaret lied.
Silence fell over them as a violent wind blew all around them, Hilde could feel Duo's body tense from the touch of the cold wind. She worried if none of them did anything soon, Margaret would press the button out of boredom. "No answer? I suppose you all prefer to die," Margaret chuckled, readying her thumb to press the button.
"No, wait!" Relena removed Heero's arm from over her shoulder and stepped forward halfway, for she was stopped by a hand grasping her wrist, she turned to meet the semi-angered expression Heero. "Just what do you think your doing, Relena?! She'll kill us either way," Heero's voice was borderlining on actual worry. The European government official gave him an indignant look, "We can't be sure of that Heero. I won't allow something that can be avoided to happen." She paused. "Please, trust me." Relena gently removed her hand from Heero's grasp sending an apologetic look in his direction before turning to Margaret stepping forward.
Heero watched Relena approach the mercenary with narrowed eyes, it wasn't that he didn't trust her, it was Margaret he didn't trust. Margaret waited until the young government official was in her reach before she wrapped her arm around the honey blonde's neck pulling her close to her, Relena stifled a scream when she felt the barrel of the woman's gun pressed against the side of her head. "Now," The 44-year-old hissed. "We can all die..." Relena's head jerked toward the woman's hand that held the detonator in her hand, her body quivered with a sort of fear she hadn't felt she her father had died, she looked toward Heero. His eyes were closed and his face remained impassive; it was the same with Duo and Wufei, Hilde simply mirrored the their looks but shivered on the inside. Relena felt a tear fall down her face unsure if she was ready for death. A brief moment of silence washed over all them before the sound of a gun being fired and a cry of pain from Margaret shattered it. "Don't be so sure," A voice from behind Heero said.
(TBC.......)