Betrayal came naturally to Arielle. She was, after all, the daughter of a spy and a traitor, the granddaughter of a terrorist, and the twin sister of, well, Selda was really just a bitch. The only problem in this case was deciding which side was most advantageous for her.

It was why she'd come to visit the prisoner again, hoping to figure out where she should place her loyalties. Ari was aware that she was little more than a pawn in the grand scheme of things, but she knew she could be very useful in the hands of the right player. She had intimate knowledge of her grandfather's plans, as well as access to his security clearance now that he was getting so absentminded. If Ari wanted, she could probably turn the Red Fang inside out at this point. It was just that, at least up until now, she'd had no personal reason to do so. Their vendetta against the Gundam pilots, particularly Heero Yuy and his family, had nothing to do with her, after all. But it was becoming clear that keeping this man in their custody would not be beneficial for Arielle. If—or rather, when—they were caught, she would most likely be charged along with all the other Red Fang members and everything she was supposed to inherit, the legacy her grandfather had spent a lifetime building, would be lost to her.

But at the same time, it wasn't easy betraying the only family she'd ever known. Which, again, was why she had come. To see if the prisoner had anything better to offer her.

Unfortunately, he wasn't feeling very talkative at the moment. Keeping him in a gravity-free chamber was taking its toll on his health, and he seemed to be suffering from a most unpleasant infection. Ari's mind raced as she tried to figure out something she could do that might alleviate his discomfort, even just temporarily so she could get answers.

She didn't have a whole lot of power when it came to the prisoner, or anything other than following her grandfather's increasingly unusual orders, but she did have a few tricks up her sleeve. Things that might get him angry enough to talk to her even in his current state.

"I checked my news feeds after I left here yesterday," she said casually. "It seems that your daughter has pulled another disappearing act. No one knows where she is except maybe the Preventers, and they aren't talking."

"They wouldn't," he replied. Ari waited for him to elaborate, but when he didn't continue, she pushed a little harder.

"You know what I think?" she asked. "I think she went back to the colony where she was in hiding all those years. Familiarity is comforting when someone is distressed."

The look he focused on her was speculative. Thoughtful. Ari hesitated while he considered what she'd told him, but after a few seconds he looked away and closed his eyes.

"What is this obsession you have with Faith?" he asked. "What is she to you?"

The words were on the tip of her tongue—My grandfather still wants her life, even after that deal he struck with you—but Ari couldn't say them. That was her last secret, the one she'd keep close to her heart until she knew she had to play it. And maybe not even then, if she decided to take her grandfather's side in this game.

"Why, she's the one that got away, of course," Ari said easily. It was true, even if it wasn't the truth she was keeping so desperately to herself. "Faith is that brilliant person who comes along once in a generation, the person whose ideas are going to change the course of history, and we lost her. With Faith on our payroll, Kiba could have finally crushed Winner and become the biggest corporate enterprise in the entire Earthsphere. That all seems unlikely now, and we have only ourselves to blame."

"At least you're learning from your mistakes," he said. "You can't force people to do what you want. No matter what you might have learned from your old man. It always backfires in the end."

"Hm." It was Ari's turn to look away, to pretend she didn't like what she was hearing although she secretly agreed with him. She was learning, albeit the hard way.

He started coughing then, so hard that Ari had to stare at the floor so he wouldn't see the pity in her eyes, or the helplessness. She gave him her bottle of water—the guards had gotten so used to her visits that they'd stopped barring her from bringing things in days ago—and thought hard while he drank. He rarely spoke much, except to argue or point out holes in Ari's reasoning, but he was usually a little more tractable than this. There had to be something she could do to get the answers she needed without outright tipping her hand and revealing her last secret. Additionally, it would be an injustice if he died of a cold after everything he'd survived. Worse, even, than the execution he would face in a week or so when they reached their destination.

Ah, Ari realized. Of course. The solution is simple; I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner.

"Keep that," she said when he tried to give her bottle back. "You need it more than I do. I have an appointment, but I'll come see you again. I hope you'll feel up to telling me a real story next time I visit; this is much more fun when you talk to me."

"We'll see," he replied hoarsely.

Ari did her best to sweep out of the room. It wasn't easy without gravity to help, but the guards needed to see her looking her most authoritative.

"Kenji," she said, summoning her translator to her side and switching back to Japanese. "Tell them to secure the guest quarters and transfer the prisoner there. He's going to get worse and die if we leave him in that closet much longer."

Kenji looked doubtful. "On whose authority, Miss Ari?" he asked. "They won't take orders come from us."

"Grandfather's, of course," Ari replied. "I think you'll agree that Grandfather would not be pleased if our prisoner doesn't make it to his execution. If they give you any problems, tell them that they'll be the ones who are blamed when he dies of something that could have been prevented."

"Right," Kenji agreed. Ari waited patiently while he translated for her, but the guards didn't question the orders. They had been well trained. On this ship, in this organization, Satoshi Kiba's word was law. And now that Kiba was in decline, Ari had a suspicion that her word might become law as well, so long as she was careful.

It was a good thought, Ari decided, one that might make her something more than just a pawn. She smiled as one of the guards rushed to make the appropriate arrangements, and walked back to her quarters with a spring in her step that had nothing to do with the ship's weak artificial gravity.

White. White walls. White sheets. White clothes. White noise, somewhere far away and in the background. It smelled white, too, like bleach and antiseptic used to erase less-desirable scents from the air. Faith lifted a hand—her arms were inexplicably heavy—and realized that even her skin seemed unusually white.

It was disconcerting. Disorienting. Dis-dis-something. The color was mind-numbing, sinking into her brain and making it impossible to think clearly.

"Where am I?"

Faith tried to think back, but the last thing she remembered was Zero, and the certainty that she was going insane. She didn't like that train of thought—especially since it didn't tell her how she'd ended up in this place —so she pushed herself into a sitting position and tried to get her bearings without relying on memory.

If she was really going crazy, it was possible that her memory was no longer reliable. Maybe that was why Zero had told her to learn to rely on her senses and trust her instincts. Maybe it was safer to try to exist solely in the present.

What do my instincts tell me? she wondered. So far, she hadn't gotten anything useful from her senses. Except that it was white, white, white, and her head hurt like crazy, and she was beyond exhausted, and her back hurt as it did after very bad seizures when her body contorted itself into excruciating unnatural positions. Her clothes were gone, too, replaced with an ugly white shirt-thing, and Torstin was nowhere to be seen. Faith hoped he was okay.

Her instincts said it was time to explore, see what this place had to offer a potential escapee, and possibly find her clothes, dog, and backpack. Faith threw the sheets back and whimpered when pain struck again, this time in her left hand.

A needle was taped in place there, and a tube attached the needle to an IV bag. Faith stared at it numbly for a moment. Awareness of the needle brought awareness of other anomalies—suction cups stuck to her head, her chest, an oxygen sensor clipped to her fingertip. How strange.

I've been drugged, she realized. A Red Fang spy had drugged her before, stuck her in the back of the neck with a needle before she'd realized what was happening. I've been kidnapped again. How did they find me this time?

The first step, the easiest one, was ripping off the suction cups and unclipping the oxygen sensor. The next step was a little more daunting, but more essential as well. Faith pulled the IV out, and when the machine it was attached to started beeping unhappily, she started punching buttons until it stopped. "Nuh-uh," she said to the box. "Nobody finds out I'm awake until I'm ready for them."

She stood up. The floor was cold to her bare feet. Her legs felt weak right at first and she had to lean on the bed frame to stagger over and lock the door. It wouldn't hold anyone for long, but at least she'd have a moment's warning when her captors came back.

I wonder if Dad is here, too, she thought. She'd been keeping track of him with the program on his cell phone and, if everything was still working as it should, it appeared that the Red Fang was taking him deeper and deeper into space. A rendezvous would mean days, if not weeks, of travel, and Faith didn't think she'd been out that long.

Although, since it looked like they were drugging her, how could she be sure? She looked around the room, searching for anything that might give her a clue to her location or to the duration of her capture, and came up empty.

Maybe I'm still dreaming, and this is another one of Zero's simulations, she thought. But it felt too real for that. She could usually find clues when Zero was manipulating her, and there were none of the usual signs here. It was almost too bad. Failure within the Zero System was frustrating, but at least she'd survived all of those encounters up to now. Failure in this place came with the certainty of capture or, very probably, death.

The doorknob rattled. Faith heard somebody on the other side calling for a key and took her place close to the wall, where she'd be behind the door when it opened. As she'd hoped, her empty bed bought her a few seconds of confusion when her captors came into the room and Faith used the time to slip behind them through the open door.

There wasn't much time to assess her situation; there were too many strange people rushing around, distracted by some chaos that Faith simply couldn't take into account. Her brain was too fried, possibly from the drugs, to process all of this information at once, so she simply looked for something familiar.

The red-lit exit sign was the most welcome thing Faith could see. She made a beeline toward it, walking quickly and hoping she wasn't attracting too much attention. They'd be on her in a second, whether she made it to the door or not, and this time she wasn't going down easy.

Forget non-violence. Screw pacifism. Faith was tired of being pushed around, snatched, and doped up. She was never going to be anybody's victim again and if that meant knocking a few heads together, well, so be it.

"This isn't a social visit," Hilde noted as soon as Duo came into her hospital room. "What's going on? Is everything okay?"

Duo made room on the bed next to Hilde and held her tight, hating the way she smelled like sickness and hospital but loving the way she fit so perfectly beside him. In a lot of ways, Hilde was the reason he got out of bed every morning. She read him like a book, and she always knew the right things to say. Not just to him, but to everyone.

Duo had no idea what he'd done to deserve any of it, and that only made it even better.

"I messed up," he confessed. "Again."

"Oh?" she asked, squeezing him back tightly. "What have you done now?"

"I left Faith alone at the dock," he said. "I thought she'd be safe there since she can lock herself in, and I was hoping she'd feel better if she could work on her ship and keep herself busy. About an hour after I left, I got a call from security. Somebody put in a noise complaint about a barking dog and when they went to check it out, they found Faith unconscious on the floor. The paramedics couldn't get her to come around, so they brought her here."

"My God," Hilde murmured. "How is she, Duo?"

Duo shrugged uncomfortably. "They're still checking her out. So far, the only thing that's obvious is exhaustion, but I could have told them that. She's always kept weird hours."

"She does like to burn the candle at both ends," Hilde said, smiling slightly although there was nothing funny about the situation. "Did you call Relena?"

"No," he said miserably. "I don't want to scare her. I thought I'd wait until I get the test results back. It isn't like Relena can leave Earth to come up here and be with Faith, so why make her worry any more than she has to?"

Hilde pressed her lips together into a firm line, but she didn't say anything. Duo had a feeling she disagreed with his decision, but apparently not enough to argue the point.

"You didn't leave Faith alone down there, did you?" Hilde asked. "You know how much she hates waking up in hospitals."

"There should be a nurse watching her, so she isn't alone alone," Duo replied. "I don't think she's going to be up any time soon, and I couldn't just sit there and watch her sleep. It scares me to see her like that, babe. She looks so fragile, like a doll, and I know she's so much stronger than that."

"Of course she's fragile, Duo," Hilde argued. "It's hard enough being a teenager, and her entire world just turned upside down on top of that. At least we have her back now, for a while, and we can give her a little stability as long as she's here. How's she settling in?"

Duo shrugged again. "She's quieter than she used to be, and less in control of herself," he said. "Trowa said they had some sort of argument on the ride out here, and then she and Chris got into it at breakfast this morning. I need to sit her down and see if I can get her to talk things out, but I haven't had a chance yet."

Hilde was quiet again, thinking, and Duo let her be. If anyone could tell him the right thing to do in this situation, it was Hilde. She always had the best answers, even if he didn't always like them, and Duo knew she'd come through for him again if he just gave her enough time to think.

"Maybe I should come home," she said finally. It wasn't what Duo had been hoping to hear. "It sounds like you really need another adult around the house."

"No," he replied firmly. "You need to stay here. Stay here and get better; I can't do this without you, Hilde."

She chuckled softly, and Duo couldn't quite suppress a shiver. This wasn't exactly a humorous subject. Not to him, anyway.

"I don't think you understand, Duo. The only reason I stay in the hospital during my chemo phases is because it's easier on you and the kids. I can do this as an outpatient treatment instead. It won't be easy, but if you need help—"

Duo silenced her with a kiss and forced himself to break away when it threatened to become more. God, it had been too long…

"No," he said again, gently this time. "Give me a little bit longer, Hilde. I may not be Superdad, but I think I can figure something out. And if I can't, well, we still have this as an option. Alright, babe?"

"Alright," she agreed, smiling.

An alarm shrieked, startling them both, and the emergency lights started flashing in the halls. Duo rolled his eyes.

"They always do pick the most convenient times to hold fire drills," he muttered. Hilde grinned and nodded.

"Mr. Maxwell?" A nurse poked her head in. "I just got a call from downstairs. They're asking for you in the emergency room."

"Duty calls," he said to Hilde. "I guess they want a guardian present with Faith while they're doing their drill. I'll be back as soon as I have something to tell you."

"I know," Hilde replied. "Get outta here! Love you!"

"Love you, too, babe."

The alarm sounded a breath before Faith made it under the exit sign. The automatic doors slid shut in front of her, and she was so close, so close, that she could hear the lock click into place. Faith spun around, but she couldn't see any other means of escape.

And everyone was staring. I'm being held in a medical facility, she realized, noticing the scrubs and lab coats for the first time. I had no idea the Red Fang was this well-connected. They practically have their own hospital!

"Miss? Miss, we need you to come back to your room. You really shouldn't be out of bed."

The orderly approaching her was a big fellow. He seemed calm but cautious, and Faith had a feeling that he was used to dealing with unruly people. She stood her ground and watched him approach.

"Come on," he said, reaching for her arm. "Let the doctors finish running their tests."

Faith let him take another step toward her before she thrust her knee into his genitals. He dropped like a rock and another man who'd been sneaking up on her right took an involuntary step backward.

"Sorry," she said. " I don't know who you are or where I am, and it was bad enough for you guys to abduct me and hold me here against my will. I'm not going to be your guinea pig, too."

Somebody called for security. Faith clobbered him with a metal tray she swiped off a conveniently located cart. Then she shoved the cart into someone else. Chaos erupted around her, but Faith was focused on the doctor. White lab coat. Red necktie. She'd bet anything that he was the one who'd drugged her. There were too many people around for Faith to get away, but if she could just get her hands on that doctor before they subdued her, she'd strangle him with his own ugly red tie.

Red Fang, she thought. That is my target.

It was like time stopped as soon as the decision was made. Everyone else seemed to be in slow motion, and suddenly Faith could see all of the patterns in their movements. The nurses were mostly focused on keeping their patients safe. Two more orderlies were creeping up on her, but they had seen what Faith did to their companions and fear made them slow. Faith avoided them easily. The security guards were a little more threatening with their stun guns, but Faith was still faster. One of them shot at her; Faith sidestepped and the electrified prongs caught his partner in the stomach.

"Way to go," she said as the guard dropped his stun gun and grabbed for her instead. She ducked under his reaching arms and slammed her elbow into his trachea, putting as much of her weight into the blow as she could. He fell to his knees, gagging, and that was it. The alarms were still blaring, the exit doors were still locked, and Faith knew she didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting out of this place, but there was nothing between Faith and her enemy now.

She stood in front of the doctor, trembling with exhaustion, but unwilling to back down. She didn't have the strength to fight much longer, and he knew it. He was trying to conceal a syringe in his right hand, and Faith knew that he'd jab her with it and knock her out again if she came into his reach.

But that was okay. Faith knew what to do in the same weird, oddly methodical way that she knew what everyone else was going to do. She hit the floor and lashed out, kicking the doctor's feet out from under him and grabbing for the downed security guard's stun gun at the same time. Unfortunately, the doctor was stronger and faster, and he stabbed the syringe into her leg just as she brought the stun gun up and fired. The doctor's eyes rolled back and he went limp, thankfully away from Faith so he didn't send the stun gun's current through her, too.

Time went back to normal as soon as Faith's target was subdued. Suddenly, the facility was very busy again, and a lot of people were crying. Some of them were screaming.

One of them was even screaming at her.

"Dammit, Faith, I can't leave you alone for five minutes, can I?"

It was impossible to turn around and look for the voice behind her. She'd overexerted herself again, and the muscles she'd strained during her last seizure were screaming now, too. Faith simply rolled onto her back and looked up instead. Duo was standing over her, hands on his hips, and he looked pissed.

Which was utterly hilarious. Was he mad at her for rescuing herself? No, it had to be something else, something that wasn't immediately obvious to her. Maybe whatever she'd been stuck with was starting to kick in and that was why she couldn't figure it out. Whatever the reason, she was glad to see Duo.

"How did you get here?" she asked him.

"I walked downstairs from Hilde's room," he replied. "You're at St Jude's, kiddo. In the ER. You fell off a ladder at the dock, remember?"

Faith nodded. She did remember that, and Zero's unwelcome appearance, much as she didn't want to. And if she was in the emergency room, that meant that she hadn't been kidnapped. Which meant that she'd just gone apeshit on a bunch of completely innocent people. It shouldn't have been funny, but it was. Faith bit down on her giggles, though; she still didn't trust that red-necktie-wearing rat bastard of a doctor, and it was important that Duo knew who was to blame for all of this. She pointed at the jerkwad, who was curled up at her feet and obviously still suffering the effects of the stun gun.

"Red Fang," she told him. They were the words she could manage; her tongue felt fat and clumsy in her mouth. Which was also really funny. Duo frowned.

"You better be right about this, kid," he said as he knelt and scooped her up, away from that awful doctor. "Or you're going to be in a lot of trouble."

Faith wasn't all that worried about trouble. The sedative was seriously working now and it would probably be a long time before she'd be up to worrying about anything. Especially now that Duo was here. He wouldn't let anyone hurt her, so Faith decided her next best move was to hang on to him and sleep off the injection. She could worry about getting herself out of trouble later, when she was alert enough to do something about it.

Notes: Many, many thanks to everyone who's reading, favoriting, reviewing, etc! You guys make my day!

So this chapter did not go as planned. It's a good thing-my original plan was pretty tame, and it just would have been boring...Just out of curiosity, though, do the scenes flow well together? The middle two scenes are happening at pretty much the same time, and I'm wondering if that's coming out clearly. This chapter was actually about a scene longer, but I decided that that last part would work better as the first scene of Chapter 7, so I axed it for now. It just wasn't a good place to end...Which is not such a good thing since now all my careful planning for this story is way off track. I can get back to where I need to be, but it's going to take another chapter or two. Anyway. It's my birthday and I'm not working any more tonight. I'm going back to partying. There's a six-pack of Mike's in the fridge with my name on it and I'm tired of waiting. So yeah. I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Please let me know what you think!