Inspired in part by the screenplay, "The Sixth Sense" written by N. Night Shyamalan
DISCLAIMER: All Gundam Wing characters are property of Sunrise, Bandai Visuals, Sotsu Agency, and Asahi TV. This work is not written for profit, but for entertainment purposes only.
Author's Note: Pussycat, Pussycat takes place in London, England. Zechs and Duo have come their from a vacation on the Spanish Island of Majorca. This fic follows The Mysterious Affair at Victoria and Ice Cream in the Two For the Road series.
"You betrayed me, Dorothy," Zechs murmured, fists clenched and voice tight. He was staring out the windows, into the side garden of the house and doing everything he could to stay calm.
"I protected the man you loved," she replied, staring at his back. She wasn't particularly keen on moving from where she was, given what she knew of Zechs's potential for temper. "Surely that must count for something..."
"Nonetheless, the betrayal happened!" he said, turning suddenly to look at her. He saw her face blanch but continued anyway. "You promised me you would be loyal to me -- that's why I let you on board, and in the time that I needed you the most, you betrayed the trust I had in those words!"
"But I saved Treize!" she countered, her own voice growing heated. "Can you tell me now, Mr. Milliard, that you don't wish him alive and back with you?"
He was silent for a moment, turning away from her again, from the painful truth in her face. "That's of no consequence now, Dorothy," he said in a choked voice. "He 's dead, and he'll never be back with me. He found a worthier person to do the deed..."
She winced at the bitterness in his voice and something became clear to her through it -- that even the horrible act of killing was one that could have drawn her uncle and his fair haired lover together. If she hadn't stopped him, she realized now, Zechs would have killed Treize and then killed himself in the process of "lecturing the earth." Tragic as it may have been, in Zechs's mind it meant that they would have ended up together.
"I'm... I'm sorry, Milliard." Her words were halting, unaccustomed as she was to apologies.
Another long silence. Zechs was staring into the inky black of the garden yet seeing nothing of it. He saw instead the bridge of the Libra and Tallgeese II out the front view screens -- Treize asking for death. He felt the despair of the gesture -- the last chance to bring peace to a planet weary to the core of blood and fighting. Treize had thought his part in it was simple, to die and thus put an end to the reason for the Treize faction, but Zechs had known that the death of their leader would only make them more determined to continue the war-- for revenge, for the glory of their fallen general.
More had to be done, he had thought. Earth needed a severe lesson indeed and he was more than willing to surrender his own life to ensure it happened. He had wanted to protect the colonies, and the remarkable people within them, from the blood lust of the people of Earth.
But Dorothy had wanted to protect something to... someone. Just as he had felt passionately about peace, she had felt passionately about Treize, her own family member. They had both been trying to protect what they loved.
"Apology accepted, Dorothy," he said quietly, "and please accept mine as well."
They sat there in silence for the longest time, each adrift in memories of that last battle, but understanding what had happened far better then they had before.
Upstairs, on the haunted third floor, the lawyer sat at the small writing desk in the sitting room, his pen still for a moment on his paper, his muttering ceased. He was leaning intently towards the radio as the broadcast continued.
"A tragic event to report today," Duo's voice could be heard to say, "from Berkeley Square in Mayfair."
In Mouse's room, Duo and Mouse held their breaths. This was the moment of reckoning. They had used every bit of information Mouse had received from the tall, booted figure, and now the success of what they were trying to do would rise or fall on this small bit of news and how convincing it was. Mouse's hand reached out for Duo's and the braided boy gave back a reassuring squeeze.
"Mr. Arthur Sutton, a well-known and influential attorney whose practice was in Mayfair, was struck and killed by a speeding motorcar as he left the home of a client this afternoon. Mr. Sutton was rushed to The Princess Grace Hospital, but, sadly, was pronounced dead on arrival. He is survived by a sister, Ms. Felicity Lyons of Surrey, and two nieces. And now, the weather outlook for the weekend..."
Duo and Mouse looked at each other, both still straining to hear what was happening in the room beyond. Several moments passed without a sound from the lawyer when suddenly they heard the click of the radio's 'off' button.
"Go on," Duo whispered, "see if you can talk to him now."
"Won't you come with me?" Mouse pleaded, but Duo shook his head.
"He's scared enough as it is and I probably wouldn't see him anyway. I think it's best that you go alone. He's already seen you."
The boy's green eyes were wide with fear, but he nodded his head staunchly and stood, crossing to the door and disappearing out onto the landing.
Once there, Mouse peered into the sitting room, where the lawyer sat motionless at the desk. He was staring down at the notes he'd been scribbling, his expression one of horror.
"Sir?" Mouse said, barely louder than a whisper.
The man turned his head, with its horrible injury, slowly towards the boy. "What do you want from me, little boy," he said, his voice mechanical.
"Is something disturbing you, sir?" Mouse asked, not wanting to do anything that would alarm the frightened man.
The lawyer turned back to the radio, gesturing at it with a hand. "I've... I've just been listening... an accident... there was a terrible accident..." He was silent for a moment, hands trembling, and then said, "It was my name that was mentioned... they said... they said I didn't survive..."
"I'm sorry sir," Mouse said, fighting back tears. "I'm so sorry..."
The man looked up at him again. In a broken voice, he rasped, "Then it... it's *true*?"
His expression was pleading and Mouse felt a wave of sympathy pass through him and something stronger, that he couldn't quite put his finger on. Slowly he nodded his head. "Yes sir," he said softly. "It *is* true."
Horrified eyes returned to his notes and leafed through page after page of them. "Then all this..."
"You've... you've been trapped, as it were, sir," Mouse ventured, feeling frightened. "You just didn't know, so you couldn't move on... but know that you know -" The man's eyes were changing expressions, from horror to grief. "Now that you know, you *can* move on, to a much better place than this." This last part he was guessing at, but it, too, struck a chord, and felt right.
"Yes... yes I suppose..." The lawyer stopped in mid-sentence and look intently at Mouse.
"Are you... are you an angel? Will you take me to this place?"
Shaking his head quickly, Mouse demurred. "No, no sir - I'm just a boy... but I wanted to help you realize it, so you could go yourself..."
"I see," the man said. "I suppose... I should thank you, but it's still a bitter peace that you bring me."
"Perhaps bitter only for a while. Surely it will be better soon," Mouse offered. There was silence between them for several minutes until Mouse got up the nerve for the second part of his task. "Sir... I was told by someone that before you died you had been given two letters to deliver. Do you remember those?"
The man stared at him for a moment and then, as memory returned, he nodded. "His Excellency... he wrote them and needed them to be delivered without fail..." His fist clenched on top of the stack of notes. "But I did fail... didn't even get them out of Mayfair..."
"You can still help see they're delivered," Mouse said, a little more confident now. "Can you tell me... who would they have gone to after... after your death?"
The lawyer sat and thought for a moment. "They weren't yet addressed," he murmured, "I was to check on the latest delivery points... Just the names on them, 'Milliard' and 'Wufei.'" He looked up at the wall in back of the desk and sighed. "I believe my sister would have gotten them. My will stipulated that the contents of my house should go to her... Yes, Felicity would no doubt have them..."
"And she lives in Surrey?" Mouse asked, remembering the man in the boots and his information.
"Surrey..." the lawyer murmured, his voice growing faint. "She lives in Surrey..." He stood suddenly and turned to Mouse, standing in the doorway. "Will you excuse me please," he said in a faraway voice, "I have somewhere else to be..."
He walked to where Mouse stood and passed by him and out onto the landing. "She lives in surrey," he murmured again, "and I... I have no more place in this world..."
When Mouse turned to see where he was going, he found that the lawyer had simply vanished.
Duo, who had been peering out from behind Mouse's door, came out onto the landing. "Well? Anything happen?" he asked Mouse, who was slowly walking out of the sitting room.
The boy nodded his head solemnly. "I think... I think he's gone," he murmured, feeling an overwhelming sense of sadness and not quite knowing why. "But he said his sister would have them."
End of Part 13
(:./kumiko/2road30)
