25: Take my hand
(Disclaimer: 'Slide' lyrics belongs to Dido.)
Even on a day like this when you're crawling on the floor
Reaching for the phone to ring anyone who knows you anymore
It's all right to make mistakes, you're only human
Inside everybody's hiding something
Staring at the same four walls, have you tried to help yourself
The rings around your eyes they don't hide, that you need to get some rest
It's all right to make mistakes you're only human
Inside everybody's hiding something
Take time to catch your breath and choose your moment
Don't slide
Even at a time like this when the morning seems so far
Think that pain belongs to you but it's happened to us all
It's all right to make mistakes you're only human
Inside everybody's hiding something
Take time to catch your breath and choose your moment
Don't slide
You brought this on yourself and it's high time you left it there
Lie here and rest your head and dream of something else instead
Don't slide.
Margaret fell back onto the snow, her eyes stared blankly up at the sky. A feeling of peace was finally washing over her despite the slight fear of where it was she would go in the afterlife, without a doubt her fearful mind suspected she'd go to hell but somewhere deep within the recesses of her mind Margaret hoped to go this so called place called heaven, she wanted to see Rei. She wanted to know if all was forgiven between them. As the feeling slowly began to leave her body she heard the faint sound of Une's footsteps approaching her fallen self, her brown eyes shifted toward the long haired woman as Une kneeled down in front of her.
Une looked as though she swallowed a bullet herself, Margaret paid no mind to the guilt plaguing the 22-year-old. "There's still time," Came a low whisper from the Lady. Her voice was carried away by the harsh winter winds Margaret was still able to hear her before her voice was completely gone. "I could get you to the hospital before your wounds become to critica----." Margaret shook her head unable to raise her hands. "What use would I be in this world? I am a soldier who has lost all humanity.... I have no place in this world, nothing to offer nor give. So please just let me die. Its the least you could do for all the trouble I've caused you," She whispered.
Une cracked a guiltless grin. "That's sort of backwards wouldn't you think? You have Jin. I'm sure his mother would want you to take care of him," Une replied. Margaret did not reply she simply averted her eyes skyward and let her head fall to the side, whether of or not if it was willingly or unwillingly Une did not know, reaching over to the older woman she placed two fingers upon the woman's neck. There was no pulse. Sighing the 22-year-old woman arose from the ground with a slight pang of regret weighing in her heart. A soft grunt behind her caused Une to raise the rifle she had clutched in one hand up in that particular direction as she spun around to meet the potential attacker.
The woman sported a two braided buns tied into place by pinkish colored bows, a napoleon sort of attire, a gun around her waist and a stone expression upon her face. The glasses on the bridge of her nose did nothing to soften the impassive expression, Une lowered her weapon and scowled. "I though I told you before, you aren't needed any longer," Une snapped. The OZ officer shrugged kicking at the snow eyeing the long haired woman for a brief moment before speaking. "I figured you didn't have the guts to kill her. I did it for you. You should thank me really," The woman replied indigently. Une snorted in disgust, wondering what power on earth could have possibly possessed her into thinking she'd thank her? "Well I'm not. Now go away, I don't ever want to see you again," Une sneered dangerously.
Lady Une was taken aback by her softer side but obliged to her request and vanished with a flurry of snowflakes, Une let a moment past before she dropped the rifle and reached into the pocket of her jacket revealing her pair of cracked glasses. One of the OZ soldier's had given it to her thinking she was missing them. It was either that or they did not like the human side to her soul, grunting Une walked away from the base and Margaret over to the edge of the cliff taking notice that she had stepped into a very large foot print.
I need my other persona, no longer, Une brought her hand back then tossed her glasses into the abyss before her. She watched her glasses vanish in the darkness before removing her raido from her waist once more. "Get a unit down here. Only ones on duty. I need to take care of something," Une awaited a reply from anyone on her private frequency to respond, she looked down at the lifeless body for another moment before trying to reach someone again. Despite the fierceness of the wind Lady Une did not think it was interfering with her transmissions, at least she hoped it wasn't. She had to get Margaret's body cremated before it started smelling.
Heero shifted in his bed ignoring the throbbing in his leg and shoulder, he was barely awake and he found no peace on the hospital bed. The irritating pain in his body was preventing any sort of slumber, be it deep sleep or just a simple nap, it was becoming more and more of a chore to ignore the chattering outside of this room. Relena had yet to come, he wondered if Quatre had relayed his message to her if he was able to find her. If that wasn't the case, then Relena had gone home where she was safe, where Heero would have go instead worrying over their well being. The Japanese teenager glanced at the uncharacteristic wall his head was turned to.
He had counted over twenty-eight cracks in its structure and four discolored spots up higher on the wall. Not even that had helped him get to sleep. The 17-year-old groaned at the sound of static and voices, he noticed something distinctively strange about the nearness of them. Heero listened again; the chattering sounded as though it was coming from his bedroom and not from outside. This puzzled the young man, he didn't remember requesting a radio or an audience in his bedroom besides Relena. Carefully he listened in to what the voice was saying.
(Suspected terrorists located in the mountain region of the area were all captured and arrested today by the Preventers on this stormy Christmas Eve. It was said they planned to overthrow the Earth Sphere Unified Nation and assassinate the Vice Minster of foreign affairs, Relena Darlain. The ringleader, Gabrielle Shore is currently held under the custody of the Preventers, her partner, whose name has not been released yet was said to be killed in resisting the chief officer of the Preventer, Lady Une. It is rumored that the rebels, the Gundam Pilots are still alive, but there is no confirmation on this information. In the whether today.....)
The voice was abruptly cut off before it could continue. "News travels fast, huh?" Heero sat up in his bed to inspect the sudden silence in his bedroom, he turned his head away from the wall and toward the right side, there he found Trowa leaning up against a counter with a small battery operated radio in his hand. His hair appeared to be drooping a bit from the lack of care parts of his hair covered the eye Heero usually saw, Trowa moved it away from his eye repeatedly but it continued to fall back into its place. Heero groaned as he gripped his shoulder in an attempt to relieve of the pain, he looked up at Trowa with an inquiring gleam in his Prussian blue eyes. Trowa averted his eyes from the radio in his hands to meet his comrades gave but Heero had already turned his gaze elsewhere.
"I thought they would wait before telling anyone about this," Heero replied finally flexing his hand which laid upon his leg. Trowa gave the Asian an indifferent shrug setting the radio on the counter beside him, he noticed the uneasy look in Heero's eyes, Trowa couldn't patronize him. He was feeling a bit on edge himself about the entire ordeal. "I doubt they could've kept this under wraps for long Heero. Une did what she thought was best I suppose. However.....," Trowa trailed off. Heero shifted his gaze toward Trowa his expression was that of a suspicion. "This rumor about us still being alive was not her doing. Its probably the news' way of trying to satisfy the majorities that hate us. I doubt its anything worry about," Trowa finished. Heero stared at the tall Latin American in the corner of his eye before lowering his head at the feeling of tiredness coming over him, finally. Suddenly Heero wanted a change of subject, he did not want to linger on thoughts of their long ordeal any longer, so he spoke of the first thing that came to mind.
"How's Duo?" Trowa stretched his arms out above his head shaking a yawn before he answered the bedridden Heero's question. "Duo's fine, he resting at the moment," The 17-year-old explained, he rubbed the back of his neck. "I called Dorothy's cell phone at the cabin. No one answered. I beginning to worry about Catherine and Ryuusei." Heero picked at the lint on the sheet that covered his legs, he had totally forgotten about Ryuusei as well as Catherine, he hadn't seen either of them since before he had left with Wufei and Relena to the slopes. "Don't worry about it, wherever there are, I'm sure there fine. Catherine will see to it that Ryuusei is safe," Heero replied in his usual monotone voice.
Trowa gave the young man across from him another skeptic look but said nothing, instead he placed his hands upon the edges of the counter and examined the room mindlessly unaware Heero was moving off his bed until he heard a grunt from the silent teenager. Trowa watched Heero struggle to swing his injured leg over the edge of the bed without applying too much pressure on his shoulder until he heard a disturbance outside of the room. Pushing away from the counter he began to walk toward the door, Heero watched in curiosity halfway out of the bed as Trowa exited his bedroom and into the hall away, he caught a glimpse of Wufei rising from his chair never bothering to take notice of him before the door shut again. He was greeted with silence once more, climbing out of his bed Heero searched the room for his clothes; he spotted only his jeans on the counter Trowa was.
Carefully he hopped across the room fully aware of the limp in his walk Heero glanced at the door briefly thankful no one had decided to come in. He crossed the last inches of the room and grasped the edge of the counter for support, he swallowed roughly as he caught his breath, using his unoccupied hand he reached over and picked up his jeans (washed) from off the table. Lowering himself to the ground Heero unfolded his pants and prepared to slide them over his legs although he knew doing so would probably open his stitched bullet wound in the upper part of his leg, but it was a chance he had to take despite its insignificance (verses his health). Heero slipped his left leg into the first pant leg, he grunted as he put the other into the pant leg, he pulled his jeans over his legs and up around his waist then proceeded to fasten them in place.
He sighed relaxing his body against the cabinet for a moment awaiting for the throbbing pain in his body to subside completely. Thankfully they left his boxers on, not that the doctors had much choice in that matter due to his refusal to remove them. He knew there was nothing wrong with his middle section in the slightest way. The 17-year-old shifted his eyes toward the door as footsteps departed or walked by, he wondered if he should get off the ground. That would probably be a wise idea, they'd probably tie me down to the bed if they came in..., groaning Heero reached up and grasped the edge of the counter once more and hauled himself off the ground in one powerful tug.
He could've sworn the stitches in his shoulder had come undone, the searing pain in his shoulder had him under the impression that he was bleeding again but when he peeked under the hospital dress there was not a spot of blood seeping from his shoulder nor were the stitches come undone. Heero sighed inwardly beginning to make his way over to the bed when he saw the door open. And there he stood frozen in his place his eyes fallen upon Relena Darlain who stood in the doorway looking just as surprised as he was. When he finally managed to remove himself from his frozen state Relena had already made her way over to him.
"Heero, what are you doing out the bed?" Relena asked shakily grasping his wrists. Heero shook his shook his head dumbly as Relena lead him back to the hospital bed, the entire time she was doing so his eyes remained transfixed on her bruised wrist, which was an ugly shade of a dark purple, his eyes glowered as he helped himself onto the bed. Relena opened her mouth to speak again when she noticed Heero's eyes were focused on some part of her body, her eyes followed his line of sight and rested upon her bruised wrist she looked at Heero who was focusing his attention on her face. Before she had a chance to pull her sleeve over it she felt him take a hold of hand and pull her close to him, Relena had a feeling Heero knew who had did it to her.
"Heero... it wasn't his fault ... he didn't mean to do it, he was frightened is all," She stammered. Heero's eyes widened slightly at her words. "Who?" He asked sternly. Relena sudden realized that she had put her foot into her mouth, Heero didn't know Jin had done this to her after all. Swallowing roughly Relena replied, "Jin," Heero caught the hesitation and fear in her voice, he looked down at her wrist then up at her the confusion in his face was evident. Relena prayed he wouldn't try to go after him. "Jin? He did this to you?" Heero said, not really surprised. Relena nodded after a few moments, Heero released her hand from his grasp and attempted to climb out of the bed but was stopped by Relena herself, she pressed her hands against his chest pushing him back into the bed. "Heero.. why didn't you tell me he was at the base? Why did you lie to me?" Relena asked, the hurt was evident in her voice but Heero paid it no mind.
He looked at the honey-blonde haired girl for a the longest time before he answered her question. "Because, I didn't trust him at the time. I wasn't sure of his motives when we were at the base, he had already lied to Duo and I at one point, so I knew if he could have lied to us, he would've lied to any of us. Including you Relena. He posed a threat," Heero said. It wasn't the entire truth, but she needn't know he was being followed, it would only lead to more questions. Which was something Heero was in no the mood for. Relena fought to control her tempter, the young man in front of her still maintained his insensitivity despite all the changes he went through.
"A threat to whom? Jin has not made any aggressive notations toward me in any way," Relena shot back. "He wasn't in his right mind when he hurt me. Jin has himself thinking that he's killed Mariemaia, Heero!" Heero eyed Relena knowing exactly what she meant by what she had said even when she did not, Jin was still suffering from the after affects of the ZERO system, how it had messed with his head when he wasn't inside its cockpit was beyond him. It had never happened to him or the other ex-pilots (Zechs included) so he never gave this possibility a single thought. Heero's brow was creased in confusion as he tried to figure the younger boy's condition when he heard Relena exhale loudly, he looked to the blonde haired girl in question.
He knew there was no point in arguing with Relena on the subject of the misguided Toshino, Heero was beginning to wish that he had left the boy on the sidewalk and had just taken Duo back to the house instead. "What is it that you want me to do?" Heero said grudgingly. "I want you to be able to trust me with anything, Heero. Someone had followed us to the mountain resort didn't they?" Relena said quietly. Heero nodded, Relena asked if they were after her or perhaps Jin himself, she mentioned Margaret knew something of the boy before now. Heero shook his head never opening his mouth to speak, he was tired and just wanted to sleep, Relena sighed; Heero was meaning not to talk on the subject. "All right Heero you win," She said, a smile gracing her features. "I won't try to force the truth out of you. If you want you can come and talk to me about it anytime."
Heero eyed her wondering what the government official was getting at, but in truth Relena was simply biding her time knowing Heero would talk to her on the subject when he was good and ready. Groaning the young man pulled himself away from Relena's hands and laid himself on the bed on his back, careful not to move his injured shoulder too much. "Fine," He sighed. Relena nodded in his direction before asking him if he wanted to be alone, Heero simply replied that he didn't mind her presence. Relena looked about her and found a chair in the corner she walked over to the corner and removed the chair from its place. Relena sat it down beside Heero's bed, she then rested herself onto the seat, silence passed between them, Heero was beginning to feel the affects of his exertions taking note that it was becoming harder to keep his eyes open the longer he stared up at the wall.
He paid slight attention to Relena's fidgeting in the chair she found but other than that he main concentrated his energy on staying awake for some reason. "Why is it that you still protect me Heero? You never did give me a reason...," The honey blonde laughed softly. "Is it because you don't want owe Milliardo any favors still?" She sighed hopelessly, Heero listened curiously to the girl's rambling, she probably thought he was sleep, his eyes were close and his breathing had slowed slightly. He had no reason to continue thinking he owed Zechs anything anymore, that was years ago and he wasn't exactly sure why he continued to protect Relena like he did.
His own humanity puzzled him as much as Relena herself did, not because of his interaction with the others or her powerful aura but the strange kind of selflessness she carried inside her. It confused him that she cared so much about one person even when she barely knew he or she. That's it, that's what's bothering you Heero. She trusts and cares about Jin when you don't, a conflict of personal opinions. Heero almost scoffed at the his own thoughts but his mind was right, the mere fact that she trusted Jin when he didn't bothered him. It would be wrong to say that Relena was too caught up in her ideal world to notice Jin's now past motives when in fact her 'ideal world' was now a reality & Jin had motives no longer.
He had no rhyme nor reason to distrust Jin, it was simply a feeling, a fleeting mental command of a soldier he knew would pass once things settled down. "My reasons for protecting you Relena remain the same," Heero spoke tiredly. "Just know whatever the circumstances, I'll continue to protect you no matter what." Relena looked up from her hands folded on her lap at the young man who was now on his way to slumber she glanced at his large hand. The 17-year-old reached up to touch it, she traced the visible blood veins in his skin never taking notice of the slight flinches his hand made. Relena gasped quietly when his hand grasped hers in a firm but light grip, she looked up at his facial expression which was now relaxing bit-by-bit. Leaning back in her chair she listened to rhythmic motion of his breathing.
Trowa ventured down the crowded halls of the hospital towards the clerk's desk where Dorothy had sent him. Before then however, he had vent to investigate the disturbance outside of Heero's room. He was surprised to find two muscular security officers hold screaming man (suffering from a concussion and a knife wound from a bar fight) down and Hilde up against a wall closest to his position. She had an armful of bags, possibly food, and was fighting to keep them in her arms. The man had been a potential OZ space officer back when the organization had space eating out of the palm of their hands, he stated in a threatening voice that Hilde had cheated him out of his dream of becoming a soldier stating they rigged the mobile suit performance tests just for her.
Hilde remained relatively calm through it all as she inched away from the wall she was up against and speed off in Trowa's direction. Trowa opened his mouth to question her but Hilde spoke a quick greeting then vanished behind him, heading back to Duo's bedroom. As he stood there he heard giggles from Dorothy as she came up toward him. He looked in her direction with the same questioning gaze he had before while the two men dragged the rambling man into the elevator. "I received news from the clerks desk, that Catherine got your message and is headed to this very hospital," She whispered it in his ear.
Trowa then proceeded to the clerks desk to confirm this, he felt nervous all over again at the thought of seeing Catherine again. He was under the impression that despite the ordeal she went through they weren't on the best of terms, Trowa noticed how distraught Catherine was acting after he tried to kiss her. He couldn't blame her though. Trowa rounded the corner and spotted the clerks desk down the hall a few feet away from him, he rushed over to the desk as fast as he could. He skid to a halt grasping the edges of the desk for additional breaking surprising the nurse at the desk, Trowa watched the woman straighten her glasses before intertwining her fingers together and smile. "How may I help you?" She asked. Trowa took a moment to catch his breath before he answered the seemingly pleasant woman. "I'm looking for a girl, her name is Catherine Bloom," Trowa said.
The nurse blinked for a moment before her face showed a look of retaliation. "Oh yes, now I remember. She would be in the waiting room just around the corner," The nurse explained pointing the corner ahead of him. Trowa nodded in confirmation and headed down the hall and rounded the corner the woman directed him to, he found himself being pushed aside as he entered the waiting room; it wasn't crowded but there were a considerable amount of people trying to past him to get to other places which made it hard for him to move forward. Once he got out of the moving traffic he maneuvered his way through the people sitting the chairs watching TV or reading magazines. Trowa looked intently for Catherine's noticeable features as he scanned the faces of the many people that surrounded him, but he couldn't find her anywhere in the crowd of sitting people.
He sighed thinking the information Dorothy received was false, the 17-year-old turned and headed out of the waiting room, as he did he could heard fast approaching footsteps heading in his direction. "Trowa...?!" He didn't reply, he continued walking. "Trowa please wait!" Trowa froze in his place turning slowly towards the approaching person, his eyes brightened when the blurred figure bombarded him sending him stumbling backward. Trowa pulled away from the girl for a moment to get a look at her face and fought back tears. There standing before him was Catherine herself, bundled up in one of her jackets and red in the face. "Catherine...?" He whispered, his eyes brightening. The 19-year-old nodded numbly before pulling the tall boy into the strongest hug she could muster.
Trowa lifted her off the ground with his arms and spun her around briefly before striding off down the hall ignoring the protests of his surrogate sister, he felt overwhelmed by joy. "Trowa, I need to go and get Ryuusei and Mariemaia. I left them at the desk!" Catherine blurted squirming. Trowa paused in his steps letting Catherine down, he looked at her obviously puzzled. "Why'd you bring them to the hospital? How'd you even get here?" Trowa asked in a monotonous voice. Catherine explained that she did not want to leave the two of them alone at the cabin and so the three of them took a snow plow to the hospital after reading Dorothy's cell phone message. Trowa nodded his face returning to normal much to Catherine's dismay. "I'll get them, you head over to the others---- you know where are they are right?" Catherine nodded. "Good. I shouldn't be long," Trowa replied running off down the hall. Catherine stood in the middle of the floor a moment longer before heading down the opposite hallway.
Jin fought to control his trembling hands as he reached over to remove the empty blood IV from his arm, he grasped the semi-thick tube as he fought to stiffen his arm but instead witnessed his arm jerk to the right and in as result tearing the IV from his arm. He gasped dropping the tube Jin gripped his bleeding arm as he maneuvered himself from off the bed and over the edge of it, he looked about the room unable to focus his blurring vision. When his feet touched the ground he could barely get himself to stand correctly, he stumbled back and forth while trying to pull the liquid IV from his arm without causing bleeding in the process, he felt his stomach lurch and his legs go numb.
Jin fell to the ground holding his arm still, he hadn't eaten anything and he wasn't sure why he felt like vomiting at that moment, he lowered himself to the cold hospital floor in an attempt to lower his high body temperature. The young Korean felt as though he was fire on the inside but he hardly paid attention to his own pain, at least his own physical pain; tears spilled from his eyes as he tried remember what happened to Mariemaia before he went to the base, his head throbbed painfully as he wracked his mind for the answers he sought but the more he thought the stronger the headache would become. I killed her, I killed her, I killed her---- You killed her. Nothing stands in your way! Avenge your family! Jin sat upright at the sound of the characterless voice his eyes darted left from right.
He swallowed roughly as he pulled himself off his knees and crawled over to the darkest corner he could find the hospital room. He curled up against the wall hugging his knees welcoming the cold draft that hung about the operating room, Jin sniffled wanting nothing more than to be held by his mother's loving embrace but knew that was wishful thinking. His mother couldn't come back from the dead and comfort him and even if she could he didn't believe in that sort of crap, that's why they had religious people, so they could see that sort of stuff. 'Nonbeliever wearing a cross' is what Tomeki had called him, Jin never minded the nickname though it was the truth, plain and simple.
Jin let out a shudder that was interrupted by a hiccup, he groaned in as the pain in his stomach returned. He clutched his stomach with his bloody hand and pushed himself closer to the wall. He watched the world through his blurred vision questioning how long it would be before he would die because of his lack of care for his body or from the drug over doses. Maybe now he would finally get to see his parents. A smile crossed his features. Mariemaia entered the ER room after making sure everyone in the hall was too busy to notice her or Ryuusei enter, she looked about the florescent lit room while Ryuusei wiggled her way past her and into the musty smelling room, Mariemaia followed her inside closing the door behind her. She walked past the windowed door as quickly as possible.
Ryuusei was playing with the fuzzy frills on the cuffs of her jacket muttering something about wanting see Heero-sama, Mariemaia knew the girl wanted nothing more to see the man who rescued her but at the moment she had to find Jin and Ryuusei was going to have to wait. The orange-red haired girl looked to the hospital table wrapped in a blanket then down at the ground where a leaking IV resided beside a small puddle of blood, her pale blue eyes followed the small dots towards the darkest part of the room. Swallowing the girl walked forward stepping over the IV beside the puddle of blood she headed toward the darkest part of the room, she walked along side the blood spots until she spotted the outline of a body curled up in the corner.
Mariemaia dared not to speak out to the person instead she kneeled down in front of the person and reached out to touch his shoulder, the figure felt her fingers slide across his exposed skin and recoiled from her touch. Jin looked up at the person kneeling in front of him trying his best to make out of the face upon the body, he shifted his onyx blue eyes toward the light that shone on the side of the feminine face and made out a pair of two familiar pale blue eyes. All the color in Jin's face drained immediately and he found himself screaming and leaping out of the corner, Mariemaia yelped as she felt herself hit the ground and Jin's departing footsteps going past her. She climbed off the ground and found herself staring at a trembling Jin Toshino up against the wall across from her staring at her as though he had seen something not of this world.
She got up from off the ground and began to approach him but the moment she saw his face whiten again she paused in her approach. "You -- your supposed to be dead! I shot you!!" He cried hoarsely. Mariemaia's brow creased in confusion and continued her approach, Jin remained where he was tears falling freely down his face as he tried to control his trembling body. "ZERO did this to you didn't he?" Mariemaia whispered kneeling down in front of him. Jin swallowed shaking his head in confusion recoiling from yet another attempt of Mariemaia trying to touch him; he didn't believe in ghosts and yet he was seeing one! The 10-year-old girl noticed Jin was show revealing a side of himself he hid so well from the world and didn't seem to care about it, if anything Mariemaia sensed he wanted her go away, but she couldn't.
The sight of this boy cowering up against a wall on the ground in simple hospital attire for patients was frightening to Mariemaia: she had seen Jin look and act so strong around her especially the Gundam pilots, this change of demeanor was unnerving. "Jin... whatever that retched machine showed you it wasn't real. I'm alive, you didn't kill me. I'm still here," She whispered to him grasping his forearm. Jin lowered his head and sobbed upon his knees his chestnut brown hair fell over his shoulders giving Mariemaia a better glimpse of his shoulder length hair. She listened to his apologetic muttering as she looked at the small hole in his arm where the IV used to be.
Releasing his arm she brought her hands around her neck she grasped the chain of the pendant and brought it over her head, she grasped his arm once more turning it upward so the palm of his hand was visible. "Here, maybe this'll jog your memory," Mariemaia dropped the pendant into his hand and closed his fingers over it. Jin looked up from his knees at his hand through his bangs before opening his hand; he stared at the blue chain and jewel that hung in the center of it, Jin looked up at her immediately. "But Zero said..... I." Jin was on the verge of tears again. Mariemaia reached over and pulled the trembling young man into her arms ignoring his stiffening reaction towards her, she held him close running her hand through his hair letting him cry on her shoulder. That troublesome system will never bother you again Jin, Mariemaia rocked Jin gently, she could feel him calming down gradually. "I'm so, sorry, Mariemaia," He whispered.
(TBC...) Authors' note: Beginning of the story shows Une mentally aruging with her soldier persona.