Hey people!
Well, I got another review! My thanks go to Harlequinn99! I got a fan…ish
Still need more, but here's chapter 4...I think ?
I don't own Study series, Valek…yada yada yada …. U know the rest XD
Laters XD
Whiney Smurf!
* * * Never Before * * *
Ambrose POV
Never had I seen Margg cry. Never before had I seen her even bat an eyelid at the moods of high ranking officials, but that was nothing compared to what I had just heard! Never, had Valek lost his temper like that in the 20 or so years I had known him. Although I knew his reasons, this was … weird.
"Well sir… am… n-not exactly, but …" Valek stood before me, fidgeting like a school boy in front of the headmaster. I was pleasantly surprised but had an unequivocal urge to laugh. I'd never affected him this badly before.
"Valek, if you raise your voice like that again, I will have you suspended without pay. Do you underst… Look at me when I'm talking to you!" How dare he turn his back on me! Valek turned to look at me but whatever I had been about to say died a quiet death on my lips. Never before had a man looked so… haunted. But under the façade of anger was a deep rooted fear for the way he was acting. Valek was just as afraid of this as I was surprised. Sighing, I turned to the two men either side of me.
"Ari? Janco? Would you gentlemen please be so kind as to leave us?" It was phrased as a question but they took the underlying hint. Once the door clicked shut, I turned back towards Valek. My chief advisor sat at the desk, simply staring at a file.
"I'm sorry sir. I don't know what happened sir…I just… lost it, I suppose." I pulled out the chair in front of his desk.
"I know what happened. After all, it is partly my fault. I was the one who sent her away." Valek's hands tightened around the file as he visibly winced at my words. "Do you want to talk?"
"Everywhere I go, she's there, in everything I do, I see. But when I look at you, all I see is anger. You're the one who sent her away, you're the one who ruined everything. You're the…" His voice broke as the sobs he had been holding in broke free. When he looked up at me, I saw the fury he no longer tried to hide.
"Valek, if there was anyway I could have let her stay, I would have." The disbelief in his eyes was evident, but they merely dropped back to he file, now laying open in front of him. "I mean it, after all, I owe her my life. But the fact remains Yelena would not be trusted by the majority of my advisors." Slowly, Valek got to his feet, the once again closed file, still clutched in his hands. Without him turning, I could still see the questions beginning to form.
"Do you even know what you have done? The promises you have made me break?"
"No. Tell me."
"After what Reyad did to her, I promised I would protect her. How can I do that if I'm over 1,000 miles away?" Sarcasm dripped from his voice, his eyes challenging me to prove him wrong. Shaking my head to clear the images those first few pages instilled, I took up the challenge.
"I know part of what she went through. I know now what happened the night she killed Reyad. I did read that… journal. And believe me Valek when I say, those images will remain with me until my dying day.
Flashback (General POV)
Ambrose sat at his desk trying to clear up a few loose ends before his meeting with Valek. The Commander knew this meeting wasn't going to be fun, especially since he suspected that his primary employee was pretty pissed off at him.
'Well what would you expect? You sent his girlfriend to a completely different country, AFTER you nearly ordered him to execute her there and then. He's not going to be chuffed about that now is he?'
Ambrose was brought out of his musings by a sharp knock on the door. Looking up, he saw Valek walk through the door followed by three Generals, all of whom looked at Valek with wary eyes.
Raising to his feet, Commander Ambrose asked them all to sit.
"Commander, I must say that it is good to see you back to proper health sir." General Tesso spoke first, Hazal and MD 5's new General, Ute, nodding their agreement. He merely smiled and decided the best way to proceed.
"Than you, but alas we have more important matters to attend to." Ambrose risked a sideways glance at Valek, before continuing, " I'm afraid that we must gather as much information on this issue of the…children…under Mogkan and Reyad's…control, shall we say." Valek glared at his superior, knowing right well what he was about to ask of him. General Hazal spoke up,
"Sir, all the children were tested by that magician before she left. I thought that none of them responded. How are we to know what happened to the… Valek?" The Commander looked up at the sound of a chair scraping loudly along a rough stone floor. If looks could kill, he really would be dead this time. Valek stood on his feet, his hands by his sides, balled into fists.
"No! I know what you are going to ask me and I'll tell you this, I will not break a confidence that she granted to me. Bring her back and ask her yourself if you must, but do not ask me to repeat what I heard or… saw" Valek's voice broke on the last word and the officers in the room stared at him in concern. Obviously there was more to this story than they had first thought. Valek looked ready to continue but the sound of the door opening drew his attention away. One of his corps walked into the room, looking slightly ill and horrified, a black ledger in his hands. Valek's face instantly paled when he saw it. Turning away he asked,
"Jackson what is it? And where is Thomas?"
"I felt that the Commander should see this sir and Thomas is currently recovering from quite a bad shock sir. You see, he found this in Reyad's room and started to read it, thinking it was a journal…"
"It is. But not one any person in their right mind would keep. Give it to the Commander if you wish, but I have no desire to read that again." Ambrose beckoned the man over to him, but Valek wasn't finished, "I've heard what happened that first, and thankfully last night, first hand, I've seen his precious little 'toy chest', I want nothing more to do with it!" Valek practically spat the words toy chest out, but for Jackson at least, this little outburst explained his behaviour. Letting out a shaky sigh, Valek rubbed his hand over his face and went to leave. Opening the first page of the book, Ambrose gasped aloud at what was written in front of him.
"Valek! Wait!" Stopping at the door, he turned slightly to see the Commander shaking in revulsion at the first entry.
"Yes sir?"
"What page did he get to? Please tell me she didn't suffer"
"As far as the end of the first page. She killed him before he could begin the next one." With that parting comment, he left the room. The Generals left also.
Ambrose sank into his chair again. No matter what he did, he could not stop himself from reading. Now Ambrose finally understood why Valek was so unwilling to tell him. Now he understood why he was so protective of her, why he looked ready to kill Brazell. Ambrose had to laugh at the fact that if Reyad where still alive, and this book fell into the hands of half the guards or advisors in MD 6, Reyad would have been gutted alive, although most likely by Valek himself.
'I can't exactly blame you now can I? Oh well, she's safe now. However, I can guarantee that I won't be getting a peaceful nights rest tonight.'
End of Flashback
A shiver ran down my spine at the memories of that day.
"I read the whole book Valek. I don't know what possessed me to but, god help me, I did." Valek looked round at me, his demeanour somewhat back to it's normality. Sighing, I realised that this was something that Valek would have to sort out on his own, in his own time. Suddenly I noticed that he still held that file in his hands. Waking to the desk, he extracted another folder from the pile on its surface. Tucking this one under his arm, Valek walked over to the fire. Then he did something I had never seen him do before; he threw the file he had under his arm into the flames, watching as it caught fire. Shocked, I just gawked t him, open-mouthed. Never before had Valek destroyed personnel files! Looking into his eyes as he turned to face me, I was greeted with a look of compete and utter grief, like he had just killed someone he truly loved.
"I had my reasons sir. But if you will excuse me, I think it best I took the rest of the day off." With that Valek turned slowly on his heel. Once he reached the door he turned back to me, "If you happen to see Margg, tell her that I'm sorry for shouting at her and that I will talk it over with her as soon as I can." One last glance at the smouldering file and then he left. Glancing down, I caught sight of his reason. Sighing once more, I too let the room, making sure that the lamps where extinguished and using my key to lock the door.
In the darkened office, as the last of the file burned away, flames curled around the piece of paper that bore the recipient's name.
As the Commander walked to his office and Valek locked up in his suite, sitting at his desk with the file in one hand and a glass of White brandy in the other, the final flames engulfed Yelena's food taster personnel file.
I know that the ending probably sucked but I had this image in my head and it was hard to get onto paper. Anyways, I hope you got the idea. This chapter took ages for me to write and I hope you like it.
I do however need suggestions for what character out of the books should become the baddy in this one. Ari, Janco, Maren and the Commander are out, as is Leif but the rest can be used.
Anywho, read, review, hugs ! Laters XD
Whiney Smurf XP
