Title: The Quest for Nagifar - Part 8
Author: Emily
Rating: PG-13
Couplings: 1x2, 3x4, 11+13
Warnings: action, adventure, language, angst, yaoi
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. Don't own Indiana Jones, either. Both belong to something bigger than I could ever comprehend.
Comments/Lyrics/ and emphasis and 'thought' and flashback, some may not be used in this fic...it's just a heads-up. Sequel to "Heero Yuy and the Eye of Horus". Starts up maybe two or three months after its epilogue. You don't need to have read "HYatEoH" in order to understand this fic, but it would be nice.
Colditz, Germany
OZ Sargeant Alric Wagenheber casually lit a cigarette outside the cell in which the former Admiral Uskyldig awaited the arrival of Lady Une. The man was surprisingly composed for a man who was sure to meet his doom. Une's fierce temper was known throughout OZ, and all of its soldiers secretly pitied the man who had caused the death of General Treize Khushrenada, knowing that Une would not sleep soundly until she had her vengeance. None dared to voice these thoughts, though, knowing that they'd make themselves the victims of her wrath if they did.
At the sound of heavy footsteps approaching, Wagenheber immediately dropped the cigarette, twisted it with his heel. A procession of guards stopped at the cell, one of them pulling out a pair of keys. "We're here for the prisoner. Lady Une is ready to see him now."
Wagenheber nodded mutely as he stepped aside, letting the men do what they needed to do. Uskyldig was out of his hands now, and he let out a sigh of relief. He had been worried that Une would come get the man herself and that she'd find some spot on his uniform that would get him executed.
OZ had certainly changed since General Khushrenada's death. It was... 'Less fun,' Wagenheber realized. Before some slacking in protocol was allowed as long as performance wasn't hindered. Then Une took charge, and she made life a lot more ugly for everyone enlisted.
The procession left, dragging the grizzled Uskyldig along with them. Wagenheber waited until he couldn't hear them anymore before pulling out his pack again and lighting another. Nobody had kept him from smoking in the prison before. All the prisoners here were going to die here, so it wasn't like they were worried about the public health. It was more of a relief when someone died of an illness instead of just rotting away, because it meant they wouldn't have to watch the man whine and gripe about how hungry he was and how cruel OZ was in whatever language they spoke.
Wagenheber, deciding he was suddenly bored, pulled the newspaper he kept in his back pocket out and glanced over the headlines. Nothing particularly exciting seemed to be going on, either, since Une took over. When Treize was in charge, the world was constantly talking about what OZ was up to these days. But now, it's like they weren't there - even with the military presence that occupied every corner of the planet.
The sargeant jumped when he heard a pained scream echoing down the hallways, shivering involuntarily. He had heard rumors that Lady Une snapped when Treize was killed. He heard that the soldiers who served directly under her would hear Une talking to herself as if someone else was standing right beside her. Some speculated that it was Khushrenada's ghost she was talking to, and that he was guiding her actions to finish building the OZ he had envisioned, but all her actions seemed to be going in the opposite direction.
"What's in the news, Sarge?" called a prisoner down the hall that the guards liked to call Polly amongst themselves, but Wagenheber was yet to figure out why.
"Just a crock of shit about some guy inheriting a fortune from his dead uncle," he replied, lying of course. He wasn't supposed to humor these people by letting them know about the outside world. To them, time never passed in Colditz. They just waited. That's why Wagenheber kept the latest news with him - to make sure he wasn't locked up like the prisoners.
"That's what you always tell me, Sarge," Polly responded, his voice sounding worn and beaten. "Nobody has a fortune anymore." He was quiet for a moment. "The guys down the hall caught a rat. Do you want some, Sarge?"
"Bumsen weg."1
Wagenheber grinned at the soldier who was coming his way. "Come to relieve me for the night?"
The man grunted, nodding. He was a newer addition to the team at Colditz, and the higher-ups let him have the night guard early on because the guy was huge and knew how to use a pistol pretty damn well. The sargeant watched as the larger man took up his post, looking like a giant in the small stone corridor.
Wagenheber left as quickly as possible, eager to leave his station and go on to something that a normal man his age would be doing. The sun was just setting when he got home, and his wife had dinner on the table, food untouched since the family was waiting for him. He shut the door loudly behind him to announce his arrival, causing Gretchen, his seven-year-old daughter, to come flying out of another room to give her father a hug.
"Hello, my princess," he greeted with a laugh, putting down the briefcase that held all the daily reports he was required to work on to lift Gretchen into the air. She giggled in delight, and he couldn't help but smile.
She was the only reason he still worked for OZ. The money a man of his rank made was decent enough that they could live comfortably and she could go to a good school. He didn't care much for how they were trying to control the world. When Khushrenada died, he thought the organization would fall apart and he'd be left jobless with a family to support, but Lady Une took hold almost immediately. Wagenheber knew that there was a group of soldiers plotting to overthrow Une and put another man in charge, one who claimed to be Treize's cousin, but he knew that it wouldn't be a successful campaign. Too many people were loyal to Une.
Wagenheber walked to his dining room, greeting his wife with a kiss as Gretchen sat and began to pile food on her plate. 'It seems,' he thought, 'that OZ is preparing to go to war within itself. We cannot afford for this to happen. We must stick with Une, even if her ideals of revenge are wrong. Otherwise she'll destroy us all.'
End Part 8
1"Fuck off" in German according to a website that said "Gomen nasai" is Japanese for "You are very cute". LOL. Yeah. My reliable sources. I only took it because I was tired and needed something to put there. Someone please tell me if it's wrong.