Chapter 10
Lily had just shot three soldiers. She wasn't in a very good mood and target practice was just what she needed. Saving Relena wasn't exactly what was on the top of her want list, but it's what she chose to do. Though she hated to admit it, the people needed Relena at the moment, unless they were to choose a new Vice Foreign Minister.
Lily decided that was impossible. The people loved Relena. Relena loved the people. She gave them hope. That's what the people needed. They needed the hope that one day they could live their lives in peace. Peace. Now that's what Lily wondered if it was possible. For so many years she had been fighting for this one ideal world. She decided no matter how long it took, she would continue to fight for peace.
"Lily, here."
Duo stood next to her and pointed toward a vent on the ceiling. Lily nodded and pulled a chair under it. Climbing onto the chair, she tucked her gun away. Duo handed her a crowbar and she pried the vent off. Peering into the shaft she saw Relena heading her way. She jumped off the chair and looked at Duo.
"Right on time."
"Yosh. I'll go gather the other pilots and tell them we're ready." Duo then left the room.
Relena slipped out of the shaft and onto the chair.
"Vice Foreign Minister. This way please." Lily rushed Relena out of the room and towards the gundams. She never saw Takuto climb out of the shaft and watch her leave.
"Right there!" The rest of the gundam pilots ran towards Lily, shooting at any soldier who dared challenge them.
"The perfect escape."
Lily spun around, gun in hand. "Treize." It was all Lily could do to keep herself from just shooting him right on the spot. "I should kill you right now."
"You should." Treize smiled. "You have reason to. But you know, if you do you'll only cause more problems for yourself at the moment. You can't deal with that right now, can you?" His smile turned into a smirk. "I'll let you go this time."
"What?" But before Lily got an answer, the hall was cleared of all soldiers. "I don't understand. Wakaranai!"
"Lily, ikimasho ka."
"Uh hai."
The gundam pilots got into their gundams, Relena joining Lily in hers, and left the OZ base. Their next destination was France.
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"France? But why?" Takuto sat across from Amelia in the kitchen as they both ate from a box of takoyaki.
"Koji knows where their base is now. They need a new location. Only Lily can speak French, so people wouldn't expect France."
"What about Une and them?"
"They're actually on Jupiter now."
"What?"
"Amelia!" Koji burst into the kitchen and glared at Takuto. "Your new soldier Amelia?"
"Hai."
Takuto stood up and bowed slightly for Koji. "Boku wa Hayama Syaoran Takuto."
"Hayama-san, you better be worthy to serve my wife."
"Hai!"
"Amelia, when did Relena escape?"
"Earlier today I guess. I was asleep when it happened," Amelia simply lied.
"You better not be conversing with Lily."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not stupid Amelia. You two grew up together and you're both so much alike."
"You're the one who asked me to marry you. Actually more like demanded so. If you don't trust me then let me go."
"No!"
Amelia found herself being slapped for about the millionth time now. How much more of this could she take? To the side she saw Takuto flinch. He wanted to help but then he'd blow their cover. This was humiliating. How could Koji do this right in front of Takuto? That was her soldier, her friend. Then it dawned on her. Koji knew. But how?
"Who do you have spying on me Koji?"
Koji smiled and slipped his arm around Amelia's waist, drawing her closer. "That's my wife. Always so observant. That's what I like so much about you."
"Koji…" But before she could say anything more, Koji had dismissed Takuto from the room. Not really wanting to leave her alone with Koji, Takuto had no choice but to leave anyway. As the door shut behind him, he could hear shouts and stuff being broken. It hurt him that his friend was in trouble and there was nothing that he could do.
"Damn it!" Takuto punched the wall in frustration. How could he just stand there and listen to that? If it weren't for the fact that Koji would hunt her down and kill her, then Amelia would have run away a long time ago. "Kuso!"
It seemed like forever before Koji had exited the room. Takuto had rushed inside to check on Amelia. She was curled up in the corner crying.
"Amelia…"
"You have the rest of the day off," she had somehow managed to say.
"But…"
"Just go!"
Looking at her sadly, Takuto turned and quietly left her alone. The door automatically closed behind him, and he bit back a scream. Things weren't supposed to be like this. This was wrong.
"Takuto?"
Takuto blinked as Tairiana walked towards him. Of course. She always shows up.
"Tai…"
"Daijoubu ka?"
"Hai. Daijoubu. Amelia needs you. I'm going for a walk. Ja."
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"Merci beaucoup." Lily turned from the desk and looked towards her friends and Relena. "We've got three rooms. Relena stays with me and Nikki. You boys decide on your rooms yourselves. Here are your keys, and we'll be in our room."
"Sure thing beautiful." Duo smiled and took one of the keys. "Who's rooming with me?'
"Me and Wufei," Heero simply answered. "Quatre and Trowa can have the other room."
Lily nodded and walked away with Nikki and Relena.
"Great, they get the one who speaks French," Duo complained.
"Let's go to our rooms," ordered Heero.
"Remember what Lily said on our way here," Trowa reminded everyone. "No Japanese." They all nodded and headed to their rooms.
"How long are we staying here?" Quatre asked.
"Lily said we go back to Japan next week," Wufei answered. "She said there's a new base for us, and she has some people working on it for the moment."
"Normally I wouldn't say this but we'd be lost without Lily," stated Heero. "She's done so much for us yet what do we ever do for her?"
"We love her Heero," answered Duo. "That's all she wants from us. She wants us to be her friends, her family. We cheer her up when she's down. We're there for her when she wants us to be."
Heero knew what Duo said was true, but it still didn't seem right. Lily was very important to him. They related in so many ways and in many ways they didn't. What was it about Lily that drew each of them to her?
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"A la huit heures. Nous allons mange. Je vais voir le menu." Lily took a menu from the front desk.
"Oui Madamoiselle."
"When is dinner?" asked Duo when Lily got to the group of boys. Nikki and Relena were out shopping for some disguises for everyone so they could go to the event being held the next day.
"At eight. Here's the menu. Pick what you want and I'll give the order to the lady at the desk." Lily waited a total of ten minutes before everyone had finally chosen what they wanted. She wrote everything on a piece of paper and went back to the front desk.
"Pardonez moi."
The lady looked at Lily and smiled as she took the menu and orders. In return the lady gave her a price. Lily nodded and kindly paid the lady.
"Merci beaucoup Madame."
"Oui. Aurevior."
Lily then turned to her friends and they all went up to Lily's room. They each found a place to sit.
"We're back." Nikki and Relena strolled into the room and Nikki sat next to Lily.
"Lily, I'm tired of being here. We don't even get to enjoy our time here. Oh, we got the disguises. Here."
"Merci." Lily took the bags from Nikki and went through them. "Perfect."
"Lily, what's the point of going to this event?" asked Duo, and Lily couldn't help but smile. She had been working her pilots hard lately and she felt bad about it.
"To enjoy our time here."
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"Je veux deux lemonades." Lily got two lemonades and gave one to Nikki. "Merci." They walked away together and watched the festival around them. Lily adjusted the hat which sat on her head to cover up her lavender hair. "Really Nikki, it's so sad we always have to hide the way we do."
"Lily-chan…" Nikki wanted to say something to her friend, but knew that no matter what she had to say, it wouldn't make things any better.
"Daijoubu Nikki. It's the life of a gundam pilot. This is the life I chose." Lily smiled at Nikki and ran off to where Duo was.
Nikki watched her friend and admired the way she still had fun even when she was feeling so down. "Lily-chan, Daijoubu. We'll survive all this. I just know it. One day we will succeed and can finally enjoy the peace that we so desire."
"RAIN!" Lily laughed as she splashed around in the puddles that had accumulated from the downpour the pilots were now standing in. In mere seconds it had started pouring and Lily loved the rain. As a child she had always enjoyed splashing around in the puddles.
"Lily-chan no kawaii. Anata wa honto ni Kodomo." Nikki couldn't help but laugh at her friend.
"Hai!" Lily agreed.
"Aww! They broke the rule," Duo pointed out, laughing at the two girls.
"No Japanese," Quatre recapped from when the first arrived in France.
That spoken, Lily stopped dead in her tracks. How could she forget her own rule? She had a reason for it. Her friends watched in horror as all the color drained from her face. How could she have been so careless?
"Let's go," she ordered, and everyone followed her.
"Lily, what's going on?" Relena demanded from her.
"There! I heard them! One girl spoke Japanese!" The group turned to one guy pointing right at them. "They're them! They're the pilots that OZ is looking for." Lily had known that the main speaking language between her pilots was Japanese. Koji and Treize knew this. Of course he would send out a warrant for anyone Japanese.
"Damn it all!" Lily grabbed Relena's hand and the group ran through the rain, making sure not to slip in any puddles for fear of losing time and getting caught.
Why? Why does this always happen? Lily asked herself. Every time she came anywhere near enjoying herself, something like this would always happen. Damn it!
"Heero, Trowa, Nikki and Quatre go to the hotel and collect our things. The rest of us will head to the gundams and get ready to leave," Lily spouted out orders. She tried to clear her head, but to no avail. Was this the life she really wanted? Could she really go on like this? Too late now. She was already in this. There was no way out but to finish it… to end the war.