10-Aug-2000
Une and Relena watched Maria run by them excitedly. She had missed Duo more then they had, and she had been worried that it was something that she had done that caused Duo to run away. They smiled and then looked at Rashid.
"I can take you to him now." Rashid said quietly. "He's in the library, it's down this way."
"How is Treize-sama?" Une asked.
Rashid shrugged. "He seems fine. Very polite. A little…confused, might be a good word to use. Other then that…I have no idea." #He's not the man that controlled OZ in the iron glove, covered by roses. He's bewildered and uncertain. He's finding out things about himself that he doesn't want too.#
Rashid stopped outside the library door. "He's inside. And he is expecting you, so just walk in. If you have any trouble, just shout, someone should be around."
Une frowned at Rashid's phrasing and then shrugged. Rashid thought that she couldn't take care of herself. She might not be able too, because her stomach felt empty, but full too. She hadn't been this nervous and upset since her first day at the Academy. Relena laid a hand gently on Une's arm and then leaned over to kiss her. "Une, I love you."
"I know" Une replied, before returning Relena's kiss.
"Then relax. I understand what Treize Khushrenada means to you, better then you do." Relena said softly.
Une frowned slightly and raised her eyebrow. "What is he exactly to me?" she asked curiously.
Relena laughed softly at Une's combination of suspicion and confusion. "Treize-sama is your Heero. He is the person that is strong for you, someone that you can tell your troubles to, even if it was only mentally. I am very happy that he is going to be here for you again."
"Relena…thank you." Une said, touched. She shouldn't have doubted her lover, she did understand what Treize Khushrenada meant to her. Just as she understood Relena's obsession with Heero.
"Then let us go talk to your Prince and hope that everything turns out 'happily ever after' for him."
Une shook her head sadly. "He's not my 'Prince', but Duo's. I seem to be stuck between being the evil witch or the evil stepsister. I am also very happy with my 'Queen'."
Relena giggled. "You do say the most touching things at the oddest moments."
She sobered up immediately and took a deep breath when she stepped into the room. She was there only for moral support, unfortunately most of the burden was going to fall on her lover to inform this man about his past. And help plan his future. There were so many things that had to be done.
Relena regretfully realized that her brother had not gotten any better in the years that had passed since the explosion of the Libra. He was still a menace to himself and to any one else that crossed his path. She had a vague impression of this Howard person, but nothing more then that. She looked over at Une and smiled reassuringly as they walked into the library together. They didn't immediately spot Treize, he was standing off to the side of the room, looking at some books.
"Treize-sama," Une started.
Treize shook his head. "I don't think that person exists any more, Lady Une." He said softly. "And I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing."
"Why would you think that it is a bad thing?" Relena asked curiously. She noted the title of the book he held in his hand. It was one of the better post war histories that had been written. Most of the ones that she or Duo had read and they had come to the conclusion on a lot of them weren't good enough to be used to line birdcages, never mind claiming to be a history book.
"Because I have been reading." Treize replied. "I have managed to stumble across a few recent histories that are in the library. I doubt that Quatre and the rest of them know that they are here or they would have hidden them on me."
"I doubt it." Une replied. "They are very honest. Painfully so at times. But…"
"But what my lady?" Treize asked.
Une shivered. Treize's smooth voice brought back far too many memories and she blinked back the tears that threatened to start. She tilted her head back at him and smiled. "I just want to remind you that history is written by the victors. Even the Gundam pilots are treated unfairly by most historians and they were the reason that we have the peace that we have today, not just once but twice." #You would not believe some of the things that has been written about them. That they were psychopaths, deviants and cold hearted killers. Nothing mentioned about the sacrifices that they made or the suffering that they underwent. It is tragic that the ones that made the peace are crucified by those that they had saved, because they had saved them.#
"There is that…but from what has been left out by everyone around here and the few things that I have learned from my small savior, I was not a very nice person." Treize pointed out.
#Small savior?# Une thought, slightly confused. #Oh, he must mean Duo. But what did Duo tell him?#
Relena shrugged and sat down, gesturing to Treize to take a seat near her. Une could handle this, but Relena decided that she did need some help. She smiled up at him and laughed. "You weren't dealing with nice people. Not even me, no matter what has been written about me."
"Relena Peacecraft, former Queen of the World, Heroine of the War, Vice-minister to the Colonies; not a nice person?" Treize asked her in confusion, reeling off her titles. He sat down in the seat that she had indicated. It looked like it was going to be a very long conversation, he might as well be comfortable. It was odd to be meeting Une, he truly thought that she was dead. And Relena, well Miri wasn't a nice person, but he really didn't want to tell her that. He wondered what kind of relationship that the two of them had, that Miri wouldn't even tell his own sister that he was alive. Were they close? Not really, he guessed, Duo mentioned that they had been raised separately. But he still didn't want to tell her about most of the things that Miri had done and was doing.
Relena gestured at the book in his hand. "The person that wrote that book, is going on the records that are available to him or her. I have not been interviewed about anything that has to do with the war since it ended. I have kept a low profile and have devoted myself to my lover and my family."
"So you're saying that this person is wrong?" Treize asked. #That answers one question, she doesn't consider Miri her family, since she doesn't know that he's alive. But who does she think of that way? Her mother? Duo? Who?#
Relena smiled at him. "I am just saying that the author only knows the public facts. He or she has not been privy to my thoughts and some of the private conversations that I have had with important people." #How much of myself that I hid, so that I could appear harmless. So that I could be underestimated, so that the Sank Kingdom would survive. So that I would survive.#
"What kind of conversations?" Treize continued his questioning. He glanced worriedly up at Une, she was standing still, apparently in shock. #Or plotting# part of his mind supplied. #She's figuring out all the ramifications of you coming back to life. It's going to be a mess. Hiding with Duo will allow her to arrange things with the authorities. Or let her ignore you if she has to, since you do have all that identification and such that Duo gave you, you are no longer Treize Khushrenada. Just have to get a copy of everything and then disappear. Do you want that though? Does Duo really want that? He has people that he should go back to, but can't because he decided to help me run. Howard would have eventually let him go, once he found out that he had someplace to go to and someone that was taking care of him. I think. I hope, because I do not want to think that Howard would have kept Duo chained to the bed or stoned for the rest of his life and/or until he had broken him. But I am not a good judge of character now, as shown with the way Miri manipulated me.#
Une was quite content to let Relena handle thing for now, she was feeling a bit numb about a lot of things. Her joy that Treize was alive was being overwhelmed by the small voice, unfortunately practical voice, in her head that started babbling about how they were going to explain this? Should she explain? Or should she just relax and let things happen for once. She knew that professionally, as the head of the Preventors, she had a duty to inform the World President that Treize Khushrenada was alive.
But she really didn't want to, he wasn't a threat to the peace. In fact, before he lost his memory he had been very willing to disappear with Duo. Was he still willing? There also wasn't much of a threat from either the Pro-Treize faction or anyone else right now about using him as a figure head to start a revolution or a rebellion. Most of them had disappeared after the Barton Rebellion. And how were they going to explain to him that he had a nine year old daughter. At least Duo was explaining to Maria that her father was alive, that was one thing that they didn't have to worry about. Duo was much better with Maria than either she or Relena was, even though it seemed half the time, that Maria had no idea how treat Duo. If he was a friend or a brother or a mother to her. But the love that he showed her was priceless to Maria, so she didn't bother to worry too much about anything, but his love.
Treize was alive, mostly well and had no idea about the can of worms that his coming back to life was going to cause. And she hoped in her heart that Duo was able to win Treize's love again. He needed it so badly. Une pulled her thoughts together and focused on the conversation that Treize and Relena were having. She sat down next to Relena and was quite content to let her lover navigate this mine field. For once in her adult life, she had no idea what to do. Even after Treize's 'death' she had a plan, options that she could try to work out, things that filled the emptiness in her. Not now though and she was grateful for Relena guiding this conversation.
"You came to me towards the end of the war," Relena said. "When the Romafellers decided that I was no longer useful for them. I thought you were going to kill me."
Treize looked at her in shock. "You thought what?" #Why do they all expect death? Duo, Relena…the rest…killing was always something in the background for them. Why? Even though she preached peace and unity, she expected an assassins bullet from me. Was I that callous in my goals?#
"I thought that you were there to get rid of me, a quiet accident that would get me out of the way of their plans. You told me that I was free to go and that I should really get changed before running off to where ever I wanted to go." Relena laughed softly. "You should see you face Treize, it looks…priceless. I never saw you like this. Have you Une?"
Une smiled, glad that Relena was including her in the conversation. "Nothing ever shocked or surprised you that I knew of. You wore the mask of a bored aristocrat very well. I think that Duo was the only thing in your life that ever surprised you."
"Duo." Treize said thoughtfully. He thought about Duo. He was still wondering why he left with him. Part of himself still desperately wanted to run back to that estate, to beg Miri's forgiveness and hope that wouldn't be too upset at his apparent defection. He knew what to expect there, what he could do, who he was. He would be able to survive whatever punishment Miri gave him, it might be worth it, so that he could feel secure again. He had no idea who any of these people were, what kind of man that he had been or anything. He was floundering and he hated that feeling.
But something else inside him had wanted Duo out of that place and safe, even if he had no idea who he was or why he felt so familiar. So he ran, not even realizing what he was running to. And it felt strange that Duo felt the same thing about him. That he cared about him, Treize vaguely remembered the kiss that Duo had given him, after he had been beaten by Miri. A small gesture to show that someone cared, that he wasn't alone.
Relena shook her head. "It does come back to him, more then anything else. I don't know what has happened with you and my brother. And quite frankly I don't want to know. I…I had hoped at one time that we could be reunited. Be a family. Be together, let him heal whatever mental wounds that being torn between Mirialdo Peacecraft and Zechs Merquisa had caused in him. But…because of a lot of things, I was too late, My brother, due to his own problems and whatever choices he had made, lost touch with himself and reality. I no longer consider him my brother. In fact, I barely consider him human and not sane by any stretch of the imagination. And it is not because he decided not to inform me of the fact that he is alive, but because what he did to Duo."
"That he tortured Duo." Treize whispered in a raw tone, thinking about Duo's fragile, scarred body. Duo must have been so frightened that night. No wonder he had that hopeless, ashamed look in his eyes. He knew what Miri was after, Duo's being rejected by Treize because of the way that he looked. When had Miri become so warped that wanted to hurt a boy whose only real crime against him was that he had loved Treize? The phrase that Duo had used, "A sicko with a knife and a grudge," floated through Treize's head before he settled his mind down, to start to pay attention to what Relena and Une were saying. Miri's planned rejection hadn't happen and they both had been punished for their actions. But Treize thought it had been worth the pain, he managed to find in himself the strength to get himself out of that place. He wondered if Duo thought the same thing. They really hadn't managed to talk at all, things had moved too fast for either of them.
"That he tortured Duo." Relena repeated sadly. "Not that he tortured him, because Duo was the enemy and it was war. It was expected by all the pilots, after they got capture. No one in that war played nice. He tortured Duo because he enjoyed it. My brother tortured him because Duo was in love with you and you loved him. My brother some time to fill before he destroyed the Earth and he spent most of it doing things to Duo that I don't want to think about. And I don't. I concentrate more on trying to repair the damage. I haven't been doing a good job, but I hope that someday…Duo will be able to lock the memories away someplace that they don't come out at night, causing him to scream. But the scarier nightmares are the ones that he doesn't make a sound in when he's having them. He just wakes up in a cold sweat and takes a shower, then wanders around the house for half the night." Relena finished sadly.
"Duo…we act like he's a fragile, but he has been able to survive everything that has been thrown at him. It just was after a while, he gave up, because it overpowered him." Une said thoughtfully. "But I want to see the boy that laughed at me after I almost shot him in your bed."
"I beg your pardon?" Treize asked. #Duo and laughter seem strange together. All I can think of with Duo is a mouse that is about to scamper away, before the cat gets him.#
"It was his second visit to you, He had spent the night and you called in, played hooky in a way. I was glad that you were relaxing for once and left you alone. Unfortunately, something came up and I had to disturb you. I walked into your bedroom to find you snoozing on Duo and he was pointing a gun at me. After a few tense moments, he managed to get out of bed without waking you, then got dressed and we went to talk in the kitchen. He explained why he was there. That he was there on orders and you knew about it. What you didn't know at the time was that if you hadn't liked Duo, one of the other pilots would have visited you, one at a time. Until they found one that you were happy with." Une said bitterly.
"Heero mentioned that their controllers seemed to think that whore was part of their description." Treize said.
Relena shook her head. "The scientists that were running Operation Meteor, which was what the code name of their assignment, were a bit odd. And had no grasp of a normal life. They actually thought that you would not get suspicious about a parade of young boys in and out of your bedroom."
"You and Duo actually discussed this, behind my back?" Treize asked, confused.
"Of course." Une assured him calmly. "I knew about your affair with Zechs. I wasn't happy about the affair, but I could live with it. #Because that bastard was using you, for his own goals. Did he ever love anyone but himself?# When Zechs left you, you were devastated. You drank heavily at night and it became only a matter of time before something happened that would cause the balance of power to shift and the Romafellers would have taken over the military too, through one of their puppets. If that had happened, we would be still fighting that damned war. They fought it with mobile dolls, remote control suits, that did not have a human pilot. The war was bloodless to them. You managed to regain control after a short house arrest, in Luxemburg, after the Romafellers realized that they needed you to defeat Zechs." Une explained. "I really don't know how you did it, because I was in a coma at the time. I didn't regain consciousness, really until the final battle. I managed to support you and your troops during the fighting. White Fang, the militant colonists, were beating us. And…and after," Une's voice broke a little, "After your death, I made the surrender to the colonies. They accepted it and the boys blew up the Libra before it crashed into the Earth and caused an endless winter, killing most of the humans on the planet in the first year. Mirialdo did not want to lose, and losing to him was the fact that the Earth would have survived, intact. Then the fighting was over and then we started to build the peace that had been fought for."
"It sounds so simple, Treize, doesn't it?" Relena asked, smiling slightly. #Ignoring the fact that were had to rebuild a peacekeeping force, heal the wounds that twenty years of conflict had caused and worry about a small Gundam pilot that disappeared at the news of your death. In his Gundam. The politicians screamed about that incident, that no one could find all the pilots, like they were dangerous or something.They weren't then, they were tired, hurt children that just wanted to hide from what they had been doing. I don't think that I slept for a week after the war ended. I know that Une didn't either. And…and when we saw each other, facing the fact that our relationship had changed from a casual fling to something more. And then dealing with everyone that was upset that Une and I were together.#
"It does." Treize agreed, knowing that it hadn't been. That a lot of the time since then had been devoted to keeping the peace alive. That a lot of little things happened that they didn't mention to him. It sounded simple and he wondered what the catch was, what they were trying to tell him. Or was the lesson to say that nothing was simple and he shouldn't think that he was a bad person because of what a few books, written by people that didn't know him said about him? Treize thought about the wealth of things that had been said and not said. He didn't know if he should be happy or sad that he seemed to be falling into his old way of thinking. Examining every fact that he had been handed to see if it was a lie, to see what wasn't being said. Or that he was thinking again, outside those few areas that Miri let him, like with his books and the gardening.
The silence stretched out comfortably, as the women were content to let Treize think about all that they told him for a little while. They were in no hurry to push Treize about things or let him think that they were bullying him. They all jumped a little at the knock at the door and Relena got up to answer it. She was surprised to see that it was Quatre and he was carrying a tea tray and some cookies.
"I thought that this might help things a little," he explained. #I want to see if things were going well, that this will end well for Duo and Treize.#
Relena smiled at him. "You were always the perfect host, even though half the time you probably wanted to toss me out the window."
"Why would Quatre want to toss you out a window?" Treize asked curiously. #How does she know all these people? What are the connections that I don't know about? I understand the pilots being together, but you and Une? You did try to shoot her, I remember that vaguely, it was mentioned once in something that I was reading. And how did Quatre get this entourage that follows him about? I wish that someone would tell me these things and not fill the time with half truths and evasions. So many things that aren't being mentioned about my past, something big that they aren't telling me and its getting annoying. I loath being the only one not let in on the secret. I reminds me of being with Howard and Miri too much.#
Relena laughed. "Because, my dear man, I chased Heero Yuy down shamelessly, even though he was involved with Wufei at the time and later," Relena smiled at Une. "I was involved myself. But I was addicted to Heero. I needed to see him once in a while." Her voice got serious, "And I hoped that he would go through with his threat and shoot me."
"Why would Heero kill you?"
"Aside from the fact that she managed to track him down almost everywhere that he went, she knew far too much about our personal business. I have no idea how you managed to find us half the time."
Relena shrugged. "I had money and power. It went long way towards helping me find you." She turned to Treize. "See. None of this is in those histories. So what's in there isn't everything. Or even what's in there is correct."
"I understand that." Treize said quietly. "But what type of person would arrange for the destruction of his opposition at the hands of a boy?" #I think that this is the one slimy thing that Duo mentioned I did. And it was slimy, using a boy to kill my enemies. I did I live with myself? Why did Duo love me? Is this why he wants the innocence to stay in my eyes? Why he is claiming that my soul has been returned to me? Because I don't remember betraying my own people in a military revolution that I arranged?#
"Heero wasn't a boy." Quatre said firmly. "He had been a terrorist for most of his life. He just jumped the gun and destroyed the target before he really knew what he was doing. You both paid for those deaths many times over. Let them go. Heero seems to have. But if you must talk to him, he will talk with you about it."
"How do you know that?" Treize asked, shaken at the calm assurance that Quatre had spoken with.
"At one time," Quatre said thoughtfully, "We could have been opposite sides of the same coin. I too have done things that were cruel and things that were not acceptable to most people. But we were at war and… and they had to be done, most of them."
Treize stared at Quatre in shock. What did this kind, charismatic man think that he had done to be as corrupt and ruthless as he seemed to think he had been.
"I don't have to even stretch to see that you're shocked." Quatre laughed. "But it is true. We both have the same gift, to make perfect strangers be willing to die for us in battle. And we both used Heero to do something that would be damaging to himself. And…I might have hurt Duo the worst out of all of us with my treatment of him."
"I do not believe that you could deliberately hurt your friends." Treize said at last, after staring at Quatre for a minute or two, watching him pour tea and other small busy-work things that he was doing, to cover up his fidgeting. To buy time to format his answer.
"But I have Treize," Quatre replied sadly, after handing him a cup of tea. "I let Heero use the ZERO system in battle, more then once. We needed a pilot that could handle the stress that the system put on your mind and Heero was the best candidate that I had. I couldn't do it. I tried and the results were interesting. I was totally out of control, ready to destroy anything that I thought was a threat to me. Trowa, I didn't even want to try it, it would have broken him, beyond what I could fix at the time and then…I couldn't have used him again, I would have to left him behind. And I needed him to function more then Heero, because he was a little more practical about things, then either one of us were by then, so I didn't even let him try out the system. Duo and Wufei were not available. But Duo would not have done it, he had been in Epyon. That machine he regarded as the Devil incarnate. It had scared him a lot, what it had showed him and the total lack of control that he had showed while he was under its influence. #Among other things, Trowa told me that Duo still 'heard' it 'talking' to him. Is it talking to him or has he gone insane? He mentioned what he had seen under its influence, was it worse then my experience or better?#
So I watched, Heero, my friend retreat more and more within himself, so that when his lover came back to him, he couldn't respond to anything that had happened to him. To comfort him, help him mourn. The shock that he had watching his entire colony self destruct, making him survive. Heero has forgiven me, he did so earlier and easier then I did myself." Quatre finished softly.
"But that was needed. You needed that to win." Treize protested.
Quatre shrugged and said bitterly. "But I didn't need to send Duo out on deep space convoy ambush duty for months, just so that he wouldn't get in touch with you. I didn't trust him. We had found him with you, when we weren't prepared for it. We didn't care that it was orders, he had betrayed us on a level that we didn't expect. And I punished him for it. I didn't do it deliberately, but it was something that happened, because of the demands that had been placed on all of us. I made Duo stay by himself, alone in space for months. And we wonder why he's the way he is today. We should have supported him, let him know that we understood his actions, once we had all the facts, but I just cut him off from us. Was that the action of a 'nice' person?" Quatre asked bitterly. #I was happy that Duo had found someone to care for him at the time, but I didn't trust Duo enough to know if he would make the right choice if it came down to it. From what Wufei said, I don't know if you could. Wufei knew that Treize would choose Duo over anything else if he had to. But we didn't know if Duo would choose the Colonies of Treize. Or if he could. So I sent him out into the sea of stars and something in Duo changed. I don't know what it was and frankly, I don't want to know. I am being a coward, because I don't want to know how much I contributed to his breakdown at the end of the war.#
"Do you know the one thing that I remember from the Eve War?" he continued thoughtfully. "Its not the fighting. Or the fact that we almost lost our planet to a mad man. I remember hearing Rashid yell over the radio that none of his people were supposed to die until they saved me. I was overwhelmed by that loyalty. That devotion. You were they only other person that was able to do that in people, that I knew."
"I am glad that I can't do that any more." Treize said. "I'm not ready for the responsibility."
"You never are." Quatre said firmly. "I'll let you continue the rest of this discussion in private. I just wanted to drop off something for you to nibble on and tell you that dinner is whatever you can find tonight. I don't think that anyone will be up to a formal meal later."
"Thank you Quatre, for your hospitality and your care of Duo." Une said softly. "It means a lot to me, that you helped him.
Quatre flashed a sad smile at Une, "All I did earlier was hurt him. I should start helping him for once, for all that he did for me during the war."
Maria's voice trailed off when she realized that Duo had fallen asleep on her. She smiled a little and then got up to grab the afghan that was thrown over one of the chairs to cover him with. She'd let him sleep some more before waking him up. She was royally peeved that Duo wasn't coming back home for at least another six months to a year. That he was back to running again, after finding someplace that he called home was…disgusting. He deserved a better life then he got, he was so kind to everyone. She hadn't lied about the fact that she considered him her mother. He did all the motherly type things with her, stuff that she was both embarrassed about and touched. Embarrassed that it was a boy barely nine years older then she was treating her like that. A boy that she only knew because he had been having an affair with her father. And touched that someone was bothering to care about her. She knew that Une and Relena loved her, but neither woman could devote the time or themselves to her like Duo had done, because of their careers. Duo was a puzzle to her, his mixture of kindness and ruthlessness. She hoped that this time with T-chan would help him. Get him out of his shell. Get him to live again and not just exist because someone needed him. She was under no illusions about Duo, she knew that he loved her, but she also knew that he was only functioning because she needed him to function in the real world. If it wasn't for her, Duo would still be in the woods, still feeling 'safe' because he hadn't been hurt by people again. Still living with his old nightmares and not the whole new set of them.
T-chan. God she shouldn't call her father that, but he didn't seem like her father. To her Treize Khushrenada was just a name, someone that had slept with Leia Barton and she was the result of their time together. It still wasn't real to her. Maybe in a week or so, it would dawn on her that this was real, that her father was alive. That he would eventually live with her, check out the boys she dated. Worry about her when she was out, pick out colleges with her and a hundred other things that fathers did with their daughters. She wondered why Leia never told T-chan about her. Was it because she was ashamed? Dekim's orders? That there was never a good moment to tell him? That maybe he didn't even sleep with her mother and she was just a test tube experiment? So many questions that were never going to get answered because of a blow to the head or whatever took away Treize Khushrenada and his memories. However, with any luck, Duo would get the help that he needed from his lover and get the happily ever after that he deserved. And T-chan would learn to love Duo again.
She'd question Rashid and the Maguanacs about what they knew about Mirialdo and Howard. And where she could find more information about them. Information was very important in any war and because of what those two had just pulled with her family, they had declared war on her. She might not be able to do anything about them right now, but she had time to get even with those two. Une and Relena had the power that would help her do it, they also wanted justice for Duo. And she thought that she might be able to charm/talk/bully the other Gundam pilots into helping her. Duo deserved a home and those two bastards had just chased him out of the one that he had made for himself, with his family. They may not be related by blood, but they all loved each other and that was the most important thing to Duo.
Duo turned over and curled up, his braid falling to the floor with that move with a soft 'plop'. Maria smiled. Duo and that braid, she was thankful that Howard didn't cut it off or something nasty like that to show that he had power over Duo. #He just put things on him that he can't get off.# Her mind jeered at her, #is that any better? Hair grows back.#
She should also hunt down Wufei or Quatre in a little while and see if they could explain that claimed thing to her, because it wasn't something that she could ask at the dinner table. That's if she went. If she hadn't meet T-chan by that time, she'd eat in her room, because there was no way that she was going to meet her father for the first time at the dinner table. Peas and traumatic first encounters did not go well together. She would like to meet T-chan under nice, normal conditions, rather then the chaos that accompanied her with meeting the rest of her family. Rebellion, kidnapping and death threats weren't good ways to meet people, but that's how the three of them all met, practically. For once, for now…it would be nice to be normal, like the hoards of kids that she went to school with. And now she was going to have to make up something to explain this to her friends, they thought that her how life was weird to begin with, this was not going to help. She wouldn't explain, just smile and nod at any questions, not that they asked a lot. Discretion was a big thing at her school.
Maria was debating whether she should leave Duo alone sleeping on the couch or track down one of the other pilots to watch him so that he wouldn't wake up alone, when Trowa walked into the room.
"Trowa," Maria said, "Could you watch Duo for a little while I go track down Wufei, And where did…did Une and Relena go to meet my…my…father?" she stuttered a little in her nervousness.
Trowa looked down at her. "I'll watch after Duo. But don't you think that he might be more comfortable in a bed?" # Not that he'd be really comfortable there either, not with his back looking the way it does. You think that he needs a baby sitter too? Or are you afraid, that even in the midst of this wilderness, that Duo would disappear on us again?#
Maria shrugged. "He sleeps on a sofa a lot at home. Sometimes he starts out in bed, then wanders to a sofa, sleeps a couple of hours, wakes up again and stumbles back into his own bed."
"Ah." Trowa said. "He wandered around a lot during the war when he stayed in one of Quatre's estates or at school. We always were worried that he would get caught, but he never did."
"Did you ever wonder why he did that?" Maria asked, frustrated by Trowa's calm acceptance of Duo's odd sleep habits. Duo told her it was from nightmares, from a lot of different things and not to worry about it. They had told each other what gave them nightmares. Maria told him about the things that Dekim had done to her. Looking back, they didn't seem that bad. But only if you were subjecting an adult to that treatment, not a four year old. Duo would mention odd things about his childhood and training, but Maria knew that his tales were heavily edited for her. She had a suspicion about things that had happened to Duo, but understood why he didn't want to tell her about being raped and used. He had summed it up quite neatly their first night together -the adult world was scary.
Trowa smiled at her. "Then he might ask us about small odd habits that we had and didn't want to tell anyone about. We all spent a long time avoiding questions like that. To ourselves or about our team mates, because we all had secrets that we didn't want the others to know about. We all acted like we were strangers at an odd party, for the longest time. There were so many -things- that we didn't want the others to know about. Or admit to ourselves that they were happening. All we focused on was the war, we all wanted a quick victory. So none of the others could figure out that we were a scared kid, as opposed to the cold blooded terrorist that we were supposed to be. Even Heero was scared, though he would deny that to his dying day."
Maria shrugged. "It's so very odd. I hear about the things that you did. Or supposedly did and I can't picture you doing them. A couple of my classmates, they say things and I try really hard not to argue back about their facts or their information. But sometimes it hurts not to. There was one guy that I was tutoring, most of the kids that I'm with are older then me because I got such a good education from my grandfather, that swore that you were all dead. That Relena had gotten rid of you all, because like your Gundams, you were a threat to peace. Duo was handing him a glass of lemonade at the time and it was all that he could do not to snigger at the guy. So these kids may remember more then I do about what you were suppose to have been doing, but they get the facts wrong or slanted and I want to argue with them. Or they say something about how cold and nasty you all were to do what you did and all I can think of is Duo making my breakfast. Or the way that you and Quatre looked after the rebellion, when you got back together. And how nice Wufei was to me when he was taking care of me on L3, even if it was mostly guilt in the beginning. But I can't, because I'm not supposed to know any of that. Or be involved with any of you. Most of my school friends think Duo's my older brother or something. The few that have been over the house, they wonder exactly what is going on. That he might be a bodyguard or some sort of nursemaid."
"You don't exactly have the most conventional living arrangements, but neither do I." Trowa said with a small smile.
"Ah…so you have been a bad influence on me Uncle Trowa."
Trowa shrugged. "That is my job. Uncles are supposed to spoil you #Even though I'm really not your uncle.# and encourage you to misbehave around your parents. Quatre, is worse then I am actually. He had managed to get it down to a science how hyper he can get any of his nieces and nephews, before handing them back to any of his sisters with this wide eyed innocent look. And they let him get away with it, which is the strange thing."
Maria laughed softly. She knew that wouldn't wake Duo up. It was the small odd sounds that made him wake up, sounds that told his sleeping mind that he might be in danger. Laughter never told him that.
"But Maria, how are you doing? I do admit that I have been neglectful by not seeing if you were happy where you are." #While we aren't really related, even though I want us to be. But...I have Quatre and Catherine, I shouldn't be greedy. And Duo seemed so happy to have someone to take care of, I wasn't going to take that away from him, he needed to be needed by you.#
"Fine Uncle Trowa." Maria grinned at him.
"Maybe you should stop the Uncle part" Trowa said quietly. #I stole your Uncle's identity, just to have a name. Not to be Nanashi for the rest of my life. To have some control over something, for once. And you accept that so calmly. Was it because you never knew the man or what?#
"Why?"
"Because I'm not really your Uncle." Trowa insisted quietly. He wanted it though. He wanted a family, a name, something besides the all the blood that he spilled.
"Trowa, you and the rest of the pilots have treated me better then my blood relatives had, where ever they are. They abandoned me when the coup failed. Except for Dorothy Catalonia. But Relena and Duo don't talk to her, because of some reason. They wouldn't tell me. I like calling you Uncle. It makes me feel like I belong somewhere." Maria said wistfully. "I don't really. And Treize Khushrenada showing up again isn't going to make it all better. For me or for him. From what Duo told me, he doesn't remember a lot. So suddenly having a lover and a child is not going to make the man feel any more comfortable with his situation. Or bring back his memory. And having those two icky people chasing after the two of them isn't going to help Duo and T-chan any."
Duo maybe over reacting to the situation. He just escaped from them and he isn't…." Trowa trailed off in embarrassment. He shouldn't throw stones at Duo for his emotional problems, Trowa knew that he a few of his own. #Icky? Well she is only nine I do forget that at times and then wham! it does hit me. That she's still a little girl, no matter what else she might know or do.#
Maria shook her head. "Duo's not well and he knows it. He'd be the first one to admit it and that he's a psycho. But his instincts are still good. And do we really know what went on for those weeks? We just know what they are telling us and that isn't a lot. Something very bad happened to both of them."
Trowa nodded. Maria had made a good assessment of the situation. It was disturbing to see her go into what he privately dubbed 'Heero Yuy' mode. Cold, impersonal analysis of the facts that she knew. He had seen that side of her a lot when he was undercover in the Barton Rebellion. It had been scary then and it was still scary to watch. Was that a mask for her or was it the 'real' Maria-Mary Barton Khushrenada and the happy child that she had become an illusion? And she had been that way since she asked him to watch after Duo. Which meant that she was up to something. And he could guess what. And he didn't know if he happy or sad about what she wanted to do. That usually wasn't the normal reaction that a nine year old had. Revenge, but not something that was cold, calculated and going to be well thought out.
"Wufei's in his room. Alone. If you want to talk to him." Trowa told her.
Maria smiled a happy little innocent smile at him, something that she must have picked up from Duo. A 'Who? Me? Evil?' smile that tried to fool its audience. Trowa wasn't fooled because he had seen it too often on Duo.
"I can almost figure out what you are planning. Not quite, but I can see the pieces that you are trying to gather up."
Maria shrugged and dropped the smile. "How?"
"You and your father have a strong sense of honor. And protectiveness towards the ones that you love. Duo is very important to you and he has been hurt. By two people that should not have hurt him, even if it was through the ignorance of one of them and maliciousness of the other. So you want to revenge." #And you're probably be out for blood with Mirialdo for what he did to your father even if you haven't figured it out yet.#
"He's always been there for me." was her quiet explanation.
"I am not faulting you your motives, but do you have the ability to follow through on this?"
"I was hoping," Maria flashed him another smile, this one more genuine then the first one, "to recruit you into helping me. I have some of the resources that I need to do this. You and Quatre have the contacts. Wufei and Heero, nothing against them, I was planning for the muscle end of this. And you all can get into places that I can't. Grandfather didn't have me as thoroughly trained as Heero had been or for this type of an operation, but I do know the basics of trying to find people that want to be lost. And Une will help me on this." #She's livid. She has been since she found out that Duo had booked. And when he didn't show at either the cottage or the estate, she panicked. But I don't think that she was expecting this. Duo would laugh and say that its just life biting us on the ass.#
Trowa thought for a minute. "Before we commit to anything, you have to figure out a plan. A good one. Something that will not have us going off half cocked. And can almost "
Maria nodded. "I can wait. I know, I'm nine, but you know the Bartons. I wasn't treated like a child until Duo adopted me."
"And I would like someone other then you to be in charge." Trowa said.
"Why?!"
"Because, O beloved niece of my heart, we used to do this all the time. We're the experts. You are the amateur in this. Plus you're only nine, as you just pointed out. Let us do the work. We'll explain what we're doing so that you can learn, but outside the initial plan, one of us runs the show." Trowa explained.
Maria sighed and pouted up at him. "That is so unfair! Just not Quatre." #I didn't expect a better deal, none of you have a reason to trust me, but if you can help me find those things that hurt Duo, I don't have to be in charge.#
Trowa frowned at that request. He was surprised that she had given in as easily as she had, he expected more of an argument. But maybe Maria had learned her limitations.
"Why not Quatre?" he asked suspiciously.
"Because he has a company to run. I don't want to distract him from that." #And he's nice. The rest of you aren't.#
"Ah." Was Trowa's comment, that made a certain amount of sense.
"I'm off to bug Wufei. I see you when I see you Uncle Tro."
"Duo has been a bad influence on you."
"I will point out to you that I did not call you Tro-chan, as Duo has referred to you on numerous occasions. Everyone has gotten a chan at the end of their name by Duo at one time or another." Maria giggled. "He loves you all lot."
"We know…it's just that we never showed him that we loved him too." Trowa said. #He showed us when he started doing the Doctors' dirty work so that none of us had to. That's love. He may not have wanted to admit it to himself, but it was there. And then we shut him out of our life. There was so much that we should have done for him that we didn't. Find him after the war, to tell him that we loved him, before we just looked for him to destroy his Gundam. We could have found him if we had bothered to look for him. Shinigami was his only friend that managed to survive with him. I'm glad that we didn't destroy it.#
Maria hugged him before leaving to go find Wufei. And she did want to talk to him before Une got to him. He wouldn't be in any condition to talk to her after that. Not for a while. After she had gone down the corridor a few feet, she stopped and went back to talk to Trowa. It would be nice to figure out where Wufei's room was before she wandered all over the place looking for it.
She stuck her head in the doorway and waved at Trowa to get his attention. He smiled at her and said softly, "Down the corridor to the left. Up the stairs to the third floor and the second room on the right."
Maria smiled her thanks. "How did you know that was what I wanted ?"
Trowa shook his head, "It was the only thing that you'd ask me, because I didn't tell you where their room was before you left."
"And I didn't ask. See you. Probably not at supper."
Maria left again, humming a happy tune and was glad that she managed to get to Wufei's room without bumping into someone. That would have been awkward. She stopped outside what she thought was Wufei's and Heero's room and knocked. At Wufei's muffled "Come in," she opened the door and walked in, shutting firmly behind her.
"Hi Wufei" Maria chirped.
"Maria." Wufei greeted her, with a question in his eyes. #How deep is the trouble that Heero and I are in and will we survive Une?# "When did you get here?"
"About an hour ago, roughly. Une and Relena are down talking to T-chan. I spent some time with Duo and now I want to talk to you."
Wufie frowned. "About what?"
"About a lot of things. I wanted to get to you before Une did. She's really, really peeved."
"I gathered as much. And…"
"I promise that I'm not stalling you here. I'll let you run after this, but Une will just find the two of you and it will just be worse. Let her work it out of her system on you. She doesn't really carry a grudge after the first explosion or those two numbnut Preventors would have been gone a long time ago."
"What Preventors?" Wufei asked, sidetracked by Maria's comment. His mind may tell him that he was not afraid of Lady Une, she was only a woman, but she still caused a slight chill down his back. Or as Duo would put it 'A goose walking over your grave' shiver. And it was because of Duo that he was in this mess. Actually it was his own idiocy, cancel that thought, his hormones, that caused this, he should not blame Maxwell for this one. "And let's sit down, this does look like a long conversation."
Maria nodded and let Wufei lead her over to a small alcove that had a couple of chairs in it. She got comfortable and started telling her story to Wufei. "A pair of Preventors, after the rebellion got some bad info about their assignment. They thought that Duo had kidnapped me, which in a strange way he did, but that is beside the point. So when they went to pick us up out of the hotel that we were in, to take us to a more secure location, Duo got a weird feeling about them. So he gave me some money and told me to take a cab to Une's if there was trouble. He had everything written down in advance, including a couple of other places that I could go if Une's turned out to be bad also. He's a great believer in back up plans."
"Why?"
"Wufei, this was the morning after I tried to overthrow Jackass the President and…."
"Jackass?" Wufei interrupted, confused. He didn't think that was the president's name. He didn't pay much attention to politics, he wasn't old enough to vote. He also had his hands full with trying to keep things running smoothly with all of Quatre's companies, security wise. And remembering not to ruffle any feathers with anyone that he was dealing with.
"That's what Duo calls the World President. He was sort of being one after Trowa shot my Grandfather. It's funny when they bump into each other at functions at the estate or the Palace. Not that Duo really goes to any, he makes his excuses really early to bolt to his room if it's at the estate and spends a lot of time skulking in the corners, trying not to scream if it's at Relena's palace, then bolts to a room that she had set up for him. People that want to talk to him, visit him there. And believe it or not, he does get a lot of company in that room. Jackass gets all snooty towards him, but Duo just ignores him, and you're getting me side tracked here." Maria complained.
"I'm sorry." Wufei said. He'd have to ask Duo more about that incident.
"Well I ran and Duo got taken into Preventor custody. After resisting arrest." Maria said quietly. "And their uniforms do look a lot like pictures that I've seen of White Fang uniforms."
"Oh." Wufei said, figuring out what happened to Duo. Maria saw the understanding dawning in Wufei's eyes.
"Yeah, that. Une found him rocking in the middle of the floor. After one of those two had wrestled out of the corner that he was hiding in and slapped him around a little. She was…disturbed, would be a good word, that things had gotten so out of hand. I had told her that things weren't going to be good, I had to sort of drag Duo out of the shower the night before. He had been in there a long time and I was getting worried. And dinner was getting cold." Wufei was puzzled by that comment, but he let it slide.
"I'm sorry Maria, that must have been hard on you. After everything that had happened…"
Maria shrugged. "It was, but…I was more worried about him then anything. Even after he threatened to kill me and I knew that he would go through with it, I wasn't afraid of him."
Wufei shook his head. "Duo's probably the deadliest one of us all, because before things fell apart on him, you wouldn't expect him to be a killer or a Gundam pilot. He was too hyper and cheerful to be considered a threat. And unlike Quatre, he was a threat because he would do what he had to and hate himself later. Now…I don't know."
Maria nodded. "So they tell me. But the thing that I noticed was that he cared. You were nice to me, but he actually cared. He whisked me away from Noin and into that hotel so fast it was unbelievable. Just to protect me from being used again. And after he pulled himself together he was willing to tell me almost anything. And he hugged me. I never remembered being hugged before that." she commented sadly. "It was so warm and nice. He promised that if I wanted, he'd take care of me. Or figure out someone that could. He said I had a lot of options, but I decided then that I wanted to stay with Duo if I could because he was so caring. And up until he disappeared he kept that promise. Now he has to be on the run again and I am angry. Not because he can't be with me, but because he's losing his home. His safe place."
Wufei nodded. "Part of that is mine and Heero's fault. We did something that we thought would be nice, but turned out to be a bad thing."
Maria shook her head, "Don't explain it to me, talk to Une about what you were doing. But…you know that I've only seen Duo less then fully dressed, after we moved in together once? I had a bad dream and he heard me moving around, so he went in to check on me. He didn't bother pulling on the long shirt that he usually wears. I was sort of disturbed, but still mostly asleep, so he crawled into bed with me and we fell back to sleep together. I woke up the next morning before him and I could see the physical damage, for the first time. It was bad, but I know that the mental damage that the war did to him is worse, so I really didn't notice that it, to me that's just the way that Duo looks like. They're part of him, like his braid. But I also never saw him before that happened to him, so it isn't the shock that it is to all of you."
"He's still beautiful, just…" Wufei's voice trailed off. How was he going to explain this to a nine year old girl? No matter how grown up she was, there were just some things that you do not discuss with children. And frankly discussing this with anyone was a bit embarrassing to him. Sex was not a topic that he felt comfortable talking about.
Maria smiled at Wufei, watching the blush crawl up his cheeks, because he admitted Duo was beautiful. Did he really think that she didn't know that Duo liked boys more then girls, that way? And the rest of the pilots were the same. Where did he think she lived that she had no experience with a same sex relationship? It was cute in a way. Now was the time to hit him with her questions, since she had gotten him off balance. "Could you tell me what Duo meant by being 'claimed'?"
Wufei's mouth opened in shock and he could not believe that she had asked that question of him, "What?"
"Duo said that…" Maria thought back to the conversation for a second, "…that the collar that he was wearing meant that he was 'claimed' by someone." She saw the color of Wufei's face turned and hastily explained, "I said that the necklace was pretty and wondered about the ear rings too. I brought it up, he didn't. He called it a collar, but it seems long enough to be a necklace and I'm going to let you tell me about this."
Wufei was silent for a moment. This must be his punishment for his part in Duo's being captured by those two maniacs. Having to explain what had happened to Duo afterwards to a girl that adored him and regarded Duo as her big brother. And had Maria noticed that she was starting to talk like Duo?
"The way that Duo was using it…" Wufei started out slowly. He sighed. "Mirialdo Peacecraft is working for a man named Howard. Duo and he knew each other from the war, he was one of his contacts and he repaired DeathScythe for Duo."
"And this means what?" Maria interrupted Wufei.
Wufei sighed and shook his head. "Duo mentioned that Howard was one of the original designers of the TallGeese, which was the prototype mobile suit design. It was finally destroyed during the Eve War. That was the suit that your father was in. It had been rebuilt after the battle of the Sank Kingdom and I don't think that they did a very good job. Or it might be the fact that it really wasn't a Gundam, because it wasn't built out of gundanium. But that is neither here nor there. I'm telling you all this for two reasons. One, I really don't know what happened to Duo, during the time he went missing. Two, nothing ever happens in a vacuum. Things are more interconnected then you would believe."
"I didn't ask for a history lesson Wufei." Maria said coldly. "Cause and effect you can explain to me later, right now I want to know what to expect."
Wufei sighed and shook his head. What was she planning? "Howard will mostly likely chase after Duo because he believes that because he put those things on Duo, #and in Duo# that he owns Duo. I have no idea about the reasoning behind this." Wufei said in disgust.
"And Howard, that…" Maria described Howard's ancestry, sexual habits and intelligence for several minutes in four different languages before winding down. Wufei had no idea what she had said half the time, she stuck to languages that he was not familiar with, after her initial outburst. He was appalled that she knew that language, he could guess what she was saying, what had Duo been teaching this child?
She took a deep breath and continued in a slightly more polite and controlled tone, "So Duo has to worry about someone saying that he owns him, even though slavery is illegal now a days. And Relena's brother chasing after him also, to punish him for taking my father away from him, even though T-chan walked out on his own."
"From what Duo told me when they arrived and conversations that I have had with your father, both men are powerful people in the black market. Howard can make things difficult for Duo, if he returns home with you. To keep their freedom and your safety, they should hide in the colonies for a while. It might help, but I don't think so. Mirialdo Peacecraft hates Duo, he will want to take back your father as a…." Wufei's voice trailed off, he didn't want to prejudice Maria against her father before she had a chance to meet him. And telling her about his life with Mirialdo would do that. Besides this was not a conversation that he was going to have with Maria. And why was she asking him these questions?
Maria must have seen that last question in his eyes because she smiled at him. "You were always good about explaining things to me Wufei. So I decided to have you tell me what I needed to know. Une and Relena are with my father right now. Trowa is watching Duo for me. I should return downstairs to be with him when he wakes up. I'm not going to get much time with him in the future. I don't know either Quatre or Heero well enough to ask them these things. And Wufei, I do have a plan to get those two. Trowa agreed to help me with it, once I give him the basic outlines. I want to nail those two, so that Duo can return to the home that he made for himself. I want to show him that some of his nightmares were over, that he beat those two and he doesn't have ever worry about them again. If I have to nail Mirialdo or Howard's head to a wall like it was a trophy I will, if that will let Duo sleep easier." Maria finished vehemently. "Duo saved me from myself and I owe him."
She suddenly wrapped her arms around Wufei and hugged him tight. "I need him Wufei. He cares about me and they hurt him. He's been hurt so long…" Maria's voice trailed off into a sob as she started crying in relief that Duo was mostly unhurt and sadness that he was leaving her. Everything finally caught up with her as she started to sob helplessly in Wufei's arms. Wufei held her gently for a while and when her sobs trailed off, he picked her up and then sat on the bed with her, letting Maria cry herself to sleep.
Maria had been asleep for only a few minutes when Heero came into the room. He frowned at Maria's tearstained face. Wufei shook his head and whispered, "She's devastated that Duo's leaving her."
"Hn" was Heero's comment.
"And she wants to hunt them down." Wufei said. Heero raised his eyebrow. He didn't have to ask who 'them' was. "She claims to have a plan, and I don't doubt it. Dekim Barton raised her to a general, like you were raised to be a soldier. Maria probably has plans, counter plans and contingency plans for stealing cookies out of the kitchen."
"Hn"
"And no she doesn't really know about our part in Duo's disappearance, that we scared him so bad that night that he ran right into an ambush." Wufei continued, interpreting his lover's Hns.
"Une is still talking with Treize. Dinner is catch as catch can. I'll bring the two of you something, she might be hungry when she wakes up." Heero said.
Wufei shrugged. "Where's Duo? She mentioned that Trowa was watching him. She actually came up here to ask about something that Duo mentioned to her. After I explained it, she had her crying fit."
Heero looked down at Maria, "What did she want to know?"
"Basically, why someone would put a collar around Duo's neck and say that they own him." Wufei said quietly. "like he was a dog or a thing."
"She grew up with Dekim Barton and she can't understand that there are people in the universe that are stupid and evil." Hero said bitterly, the memory of an innocent girl and her dog flashing in his mind.
"If Mirialdo and Howard were stupid, it wouldn't be so horrible. I've dealt to Howard and so have you. The man is well read and educated. He didn't get to where he was by being stupid. Mirialdo, his breakdown during and after the war, just went a different directions then Duo's. More destructive then Duo's was. But he isn't stupid. What happened out there in that house is disgusting and horrific because everyone that was involved, isn't stupid. Insane, obsessive or confused, but not stupid. Howard did what he did because he loves Duo and thought that what he was doing would be best for him. You must admit, if you didn't know what was going on, wouldn't your first thought be that Duo needs someone to take care of him, because he didn't look like he can take care of himself?" Wufei asked calmly.
Heero clenched his fists and shook his head. "Call me…naïve…but enslaving someone doesn't usually help their well being either. And I don't want to be there when Duo realizes that what Howard 'marked' him with was made out of bits of his own Gundam."
Wufei stared at Heero in shock. "I wondered where he had laid his hands on that much gundanium, since it is no longer being manufactured, but I never thought that Howard would do that…" Wufei laughed harshly. "I never thought that propositioning Duo would ever have him running away from us, either."
Maria stirred on the bed. She was tired and felt awful because of all the crying that she just did, but Wufei's and Heero's discussion woke her up. And if she slept any more she would not sleep tonight. "That's what made him run." she remarked softly. "You…you…I can't even think of a word in any language that I know that I could describe your blunder."
"What are you talking about?" Heero asked coldly.
Maria looked at him. "Mina the nut's office is in the same building that my psychiatrist is in. I'm not seeing him any more though, which is neither here nor there. But neither one of them understands the word discretion or security. If I wanted to, I had access to all of Duo's records, just like he could flip through mine. They weren't prepared to deal with someone that is as well trained as Duo in getting into the files. And I could figure what they wanted to hear pretty well after the first few sessions, so they'd relax around me and think that they were 'helping' me. Not that it did any good, Duo wasn't telling Mina a lot either, I didn't get anything off her files."
"And this is leading where?" Wufei asked, confused. Maria was angry, but she was reining it in to explain things to them, she must have realized that anything that she could do to them would be insignificant next to what Une or Relena was planning on. And why was she looking through Duo's files?
Maria looked at him. "You were the one that was lecturing me about interconnectivity about a little while ago. Think about Duo and his past. Think about what you did to him. Why didn't you think that he would run? Everyone that he has ever had a close relationship with has died. He still wasn't ready for what you are offering."
"How come for a child, you're so observant?" Heero asked.
Maria laughed bitterly. "Heero, the only person that has ever treated me like a child is downstairs sleeping. Duo has been a mother to me. And I loved it. He's teased me and given me hugs and loves me for some unknown reason. He started out by trying to be my friend and then he just wormed his way into my heart. I was like you, just Duo caught me in time to repair most of the damage, but…" she sighed. "I am slightly schizophrenic now, in an odd way. I can act like a kid for a long time, and it isn't an act. But I can put that aside to be an adult, like I was trained to be. You had the same training. It's the adult me that's making plans and wondering if Duo and my father can run fast enough and far enough from those two. The child in me is busy bawling her eyes out some more because she wants her Duo back to help her with her homework and teach her how to bake cookies."
Heero and Wufei looked at Maria. She smiled at them faintly and shook her head, "I know that I'm crazy. That's why Duo and I get along so well."
To Be Continued .....
Christine
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