Chapter 20

Reena lay curled in a ball in a small and dark cell. Sobs shook her body as she squeezed
her eyes shut and tried to ignore the pain...pain within her, and the physically inflicted
damage.

flasback...

Reena felt a throbbing ache in her head that brought her back to consciousness. Groggily,
she opened her eyes. "Ugh...where am I?"

"And so the little princess awakes!" a voice sneered. Reena felt herself dragged
to her feet. "It's about time!"

"Who...who are you?" Reena murmured, shaking her head, hoping to rid herself of the
blurriness in her vision.

A slap. Another.

"OW!"

Blinking furiously, Reena attempted to focus. When her eyes finally did choose to cooperate,
she saw a young man was forcefully holding her by the arm. Suddenly, she remembered what
had happened.

"So you've finally figured it out," the soldier said coldly, noting the change in
her eyes. He shook her. "Snap out of it, you bitch! The Colonel wants to talk to you.
Now MOVE!" he snarled, shoving her in front of him with a gun.

After a few minutes of walking, Reena was shoved into a room. Inside were a few more
soldiers, one of them about the age of her father. From the way the others treated him,
she correctly guessed that he was the Colonel.

"Sir, I have brought the prisoner," the soldier said, saluting smartly.

The Colonel nodded in a bored way. "Very good. Dismissed."

The door shut behind her.

Reena stared at the men, trying to appear defiant. The men stared back. Finally, one of
them said,

"Sir, would this be the daughter of Zechs Merquise and Lucrezia Noin?"

The Colonel contined scrutinizing her with narrowed eyes. Suddenly, his eyes widened, and
he began to smirk. The smirk soon burst into loud, mocking, laughter.

"This one? Oh yes, she is. But not quite the way you think."

"...Sir?"

"Look closely," the Colonel ordered. "Who do you think that is?"

"Sir, the reports say that the Merquise's sent two children to be trained: Aelis,
age 23, and Geoffry, age 14," another soldier recited.

"And there is a third child, is there not? One whose body I've seen plastered on
the walls of most of your rooms?"

Silence. Then,

"Sir...but...you cannot possibly mean that this...this is..." a soldier sputtered.

The Colonel laughed again, then grabbed Reena by the hair. She let out a gasp of surprise.

"Look closely," the Colonel said icily, tracing her jawline. "Aelis Merquise and
Reena Merquise may be twins, but close observation shows that Aelis has larger eyes,
a more prominent chin, somewhat thicker eyebrows, and a more delicate nose." The hand
continued to Reena's chest. Smiling grimly at her discomfort, he continued. "Her
breasts are not quite as large as this, her stomach more toned, and her hips a little
narrower. Her legs are also a little shorter. Therefore," he said, now addressing Reena,
"you, gentlemen, are not staring at Miss Aelis Merquise, Gundam pilot, but Miss Reena
Merquise, the renowned supermodel. Am I correct, Miss Merquise?" he finished with a leer.

"You seem to have observed my SISTER quite closely," Reena snarled furiously,
glaring at him. What a pervert! she thought, fearing for her sister. This guy is
obsessed with her!

The Colonel only smiled. "But of course," he said smiling. "I think that she may be
quite...useful...to us. And judging from the fact that she has a little beloved twin
sister, it is only logical that I had to study her closely. Very...closely."

"Pervert!" Reena said angrily, struggling against him.

"Mm...I don't think so, Miss Reena." He held her close to him for a few more
seconds, just enough to make her squirm, then flung her to the floor. "I am much more
controlled than my men are, as I'm sure you will find out." Turning to leave, he said
over his shoulder, "Soldiers, despite your comrades' failure in protecting our bases and
supply ships, I congratulate you on this success. Feel free to reap the benefits."

The door shut.

end flasback

Reena continued to sob, now even more aware of the pain of her bruised breasts and the
soreness between her legs. Her naked body shuddered against the cold hard cement floor.

"Daddy...Mommy..." she moaned, "I'm so alone and frightened! Aelis? Geoffry?
Anybody?" She cried some more, and hiccupped.

"Oh Jerry, I'm so sorry! So...so sorry! I love you, but if I don't make it out of
this alive, please understand! I...I wanted to be with you, to marry you. Now-"

A scuffling sound outside her door jarred her out of her reverie. Reena winced and shut
her eyes as the door opened. She kept them closed even when the door closed.

Someone hesitated at the threshold of her cell, then walked over to her corner. Reena
ignored him. She felt the person kneel down and spread her legs. Reena braced herself
again for-

For a cool wet cloth wiping away the stickiness on her legs?

Surprised, she opened her eyes. A young man her age was carefully wiping away the grime
on her body. He had sandy hair and hazel eyes that were full of pity. A soldier, but
a young one, and apparently a kind one at that.

The soldier moved onto the rest of her body, cleaning her as carefully as he could. Then
he reached out and propped her up. With eyes carefully averted from her nakedness,
he dressed her in some spare clothes. "They were my sister's," he said softly, with an
accent. After the dressing was done, he went back to the door, picked up a bowl of soup,
and proceeded to feed her. Reena accepted his ministrations.

"Why are you-" she started to ask, but a look from him cut her off. Nervously, he
glanced back at the door. "You can't give me away," he hissed urgently. Reena quelled her
curiosity.

Finally, she finished her food. "Thank you," she said softly. The soldier only nodded.
Then, he was gone.

elsewhere...

Zechs continued to stare down at the floor, bracing himself against the railing. Aelis
carefully got up from her spot on the floor. "...Dad?"

Abruptly, Zechs turned and hugged his daughter fiercely, tears squeezing out from the
corners of his eyes. "Aelis...I..."

"Oh Daddy, I'm so sorry! I should have known! I-" and Aelis broke down into sobs
again.

Miss Noin entered the room, and stood in the entryway, a hole in her heart. "What next?"
she thought bitterly. "I've lost a daughter and a son. What now?"

As she pondered silently, Zechs released his daughter and went to comfort his wife. "Noin...
he murmured, holding her close, "I didn't know...about Geoffry...OR Reena! What kind of
a father am I?! I can't see my own children's feelings, their emotions! I didn't know
Geoffry idolized me; I didn't know that all Reena wanted to do was to prove herself!
Don't...don't they realize...that they've never had to do that? That we loved them the way
they were?"

Noin clung to her husband fiercely. "You couldn't have done anything about it. Geoffry was
always secretive; Reena too. But how could I have missed it? I'm their mother! How could I
have been so blind?" she choked, beating her fists against his chest. "How, how, how?!" she
cried angrily, frustrated at herself. Zechs let her cry, then gathered his daughter near
too, and the family stood silently in their grief.

Up on the balcony, a figure silently watched, then turned away. Muttering furiously under
his breath, Wuten stomped off to hunt down Geoffry.

elsewhere at Headquarters...

Geoffry stormed around his room, flinging things into a backpack. Ruthlessly sweeping
away whole shelves of items, his hand grabbed onto something.

It was a picture of his father holding him as a baby.

Geoffry glared at it, then snarled some obscenities and prepared to fling it to the ground.

A hand grabbed onto his wrist.

Geoffry whirled around to stare into the angry eyes of Wuten Chang. "I know what you're
going to do," Wuten growled, glaring at Geoffry, who glared right back. "Now it's YOUR
turn to be stupid. Well, I have to admit, that sister of yours may have been foolish,
but she was brave! You, you're a coward!"

"A coward!" Geoffry shouted, wrenching his wrist free. The picture fell lightly
onto the bed, forgotten. Advancing on the older boy, Geoffry said, "How am I a coward?!
I just wanted to be worthy of him! For him to be proud of me! Is that cowardly? Is it
so terrible to want to be able to live up to your father's standards?!"

"WHAT standards! Zechs-jiisan never HAD standards for you! You're being a selfish
little boy, putting your family through this! And to insult your own SISTER like that-"

"She deserved it! She nearly jeopardized the entire mission, and don't you even try
to deny that!"

"Fine, yell and scream at her when she gets back, or should I say, IF she gets
back! Instead of damning her now, you should be thinking of ways to bring her back! You
actually think that insulting her is going to help? Don't you realize that her LIFE is
the one that's in jeopardy now!"

"I DON'T CARE!!" Geoffry roared. He stuck his finger in Wuten's face. "For fourteen
long, miserable, years, I have been living in a LIE! I've been living my life for one
fucking person. And now, in this war, he's being foolish! He's being weak! We can't
AFFORD to worry about these...these...trivial losses-"

"TRIVIAL?! Now you've gone too far!" Wuten snarled, raising a fist. "Come on,
Geoffry Merquise, Mr. Lightning Count Jr.! Stare at me in the eye and call your sister
trivial. WELL?!"

Geoffry tried opening his mouth. Then he shut it. Wuten slowly felt his anger die down.
"Geoffry-"

Geoffry let out a scream that didn't even sound human. Whirling around, he flung
himself into a wall, and then a desk, and then his chair. Wuten stared. "Geoffry! What
do you think you're doing?!"

"I HATE IT! I HATE IT!"

"Hate what? Calm down, you're not making any sense!" Wuten managed, ducking to
avoid Geoffry's flailing body. "What now?"

"Myself! I...I HATE myself! I'm a monster! Aelis was right! I-"

There was a shriek and a crash. Momentarily stunned, Geoffry looked down. During his
rampage, Eva had quietly entered the room. The shriek had come from her, and the crash
from a bundle she had been carrying. "Eva?"

Eva stared at him for a little bit, trying to calm her heart down. Usually, she got little
flutters in her heart whenever she looked at him, but this time, the flutters were different.
She had to admit, she was actually a little frightened. Geoffry's eyes were haunted, his
hair was flying out from its usually neat ponytail, and his clothes were dirty. However,
she forced herself to speak.

"Thomas," and I, she thought silently, "figured that you would probably try running
away for a little bit. We, I mean he, prepared some stuff for you..." and she glanced
balefully at the pack in the corner.

Geoffry felt himself flush with embarrassment, but he snapped out of his trance and
stuttered, "Um, thank you Eva. I guess Thomas knows me too well." Then he gave her an
awkward pat on the shoulder.

Eva flinched, though from Geoffry's view, it was because he thought she was frightened of
him, and he sighed. She forced out a muffled, "You're welcome," and fled the room.

Geoffry stared after her retreating form sadly, then turned to regard Wuten. "See?" he
said glumly. Wuten smiled thinly and shook his head. "It's okay," he said. "We all
understand. Why don't you...take a little break. Here...Trowa-jiisan gave this this to me
on my birthday," and he pressed a set of keys into his eyes. Geoffry frowned, and Wuten
laughed. "Keys," he said, "to Trowa-jiisan's best motorbike. Oh, and take this too," he
said, serious. He pulled out a pistol. "Use it well, Geoffry," he said. "Watch your back."

Geoffry took the proffered gun, and carefully tucked it into his belt. "I know. I will."

"Best of luck."

"Thanks."

And Geoffry Merquise was gone.