The Beehive Ch10: The Experiment
Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2003 3:30 pm
AN: I’m sorry this took so very, very long. School has been slowing me down and there was a scene in here that was very awkward to write. I probably should have thought of that before I made the plot outline but by the time I posted chapter 9 it was simply too late to turn back. Originally, she was going to back down from Tyler’s challenge but, I found that it just wasn’t like her to not put her life in dire jeopardy for a one in a million shot – for all that pacifism crap she preaches she’s pretty gutsy. Anyway, between my own inhibitions, schoolwork, Arc the Lad and some other games I was finally able to piece this chapter together.
I also wanted to mention that I rearranged events (again); I took what was originally going to be the second part of this chapter and added it to the next. There are two reasons for this A) This chapter was already long enough, and B) there really wasn’t that much in the next chapter so I wanted to lengthen it.
The Beehive
Chapter 10: The Experiment
DATE: February 20, 203 AC
LOCATION: Preventer’s Base Camp
~*~*~ TIME: 1:05 PM ~*~*~
Blood money, that’s all it really was in reality, no matter how hard she thought about it she couldn’t see it as anything more then trading lives for lives. It sickened her, what she was doing; she could hardly believe that Lady Une approved it but it’s not that she could blame her either. Her thoughts raced even faster as the armored truck drove past, trying to think of a legitimate reason to stop it, but her mind pulled up a blank. There was just no way around it, and that’s what curled her intestines the most.
“There’s no reason to be so upset, Sally”, Trowa assured her, “it was the only course of action we could possibly have taken.”
Sally turned around to see Trowa leaning against a roadside poll; his oversized red bang seemed to shimmer in the relentless sunrays that bombarded them from the large radiating globe in the sky. He was studying her with his expressionless green spheres.
She heaved her shoulders in a sigh, “It still doesn’t make me feel any better.” Her blue squinty eyes narrowed as they observed a second armored truck passing by.
“We’re only handing over about fifteen of the requested prisoners”, he continued, “it should be just enough to buy some time.”
“To do what?”, she snapped.
“I don’t know”, Trowa admitted, “but we can’t risk them attacking a civilian center.”
The blond Chinese woman gasped and marched past Trowa to one of the nearby tents, taking shelter from the merciless sun; Trowa followed, still studying her body language. “So”, she finally broke the moment’s silence, “We’re just trading lives. I feel like some savage tribal, offering a human sacrifice.” She picked up a towel off of a nearby table and wiped the salty droplets of moisture that had excreted from her brow.
“I understand, Sally”, replied the ever calm and analytical Trowa, “but there comes a time where you have to make a choice about things. I’m afraid that we may in fact be making the enemy stronger but I really can’t see what other options we have.”
WuFei came out from behind some large boxes, brandishing a large oriental saber and a polishing clothe, “Besides, I wouldn’t spare them any sympathy.”
After barely restraining her initial impulse to jump out of her socks at the unexpected site of a male figure, seemingly coming out of nowhere, with a sharp metal tool of death, she tilted her red lips into a smug half smile in an effort to hide the shock, “WuFei, were you eaves dropping?”
He turned his attention back to rubbing his blade with the silky white cloth, seemingly uninterested in his two comrade’s conversation, “not really”. He held the sword up and carefully examined it, studying each glint, every glimmer of light the steel blade reflected. Once satisfied, he found the sheath leaning against the box he had ‘hidden’ behind and let the sharp metal shaft slide in. “I think you’re getting too upset about this though; I for one have no intention of letting a bunch of honor-less pigs get in my way. We salvaged most of our mobile suits; we just have to hit them harder and faster next time.”
It wasn’t exactly the type of brilliant plan Sally was looking for but it was definitely something her partner would come up with. He had a point though, they all had a point, it was the only option they really had open to them.
LOCATION: The Beehive Facility
~*~*~ TIME: Unknown ~*~*~
He really didn’t have to say anything; they could tell by the look on his face that he was ready for the ‘experiment’. His eyes fixed on his young female test subject; intently examining her for any signs of hesitation or surrender while his pallid white lips maintained a slight self-assured smirk. “It’s time”, he finally stated.
Slowly, Relena rose from the padded surface she had been sitting on; her stomach churned with a myriad of unsettling fluids and sensations, while her hand quivered slightly, knowing what was about to happen. She turned her pleading blue eyes back to her chocolate haired bodyguard, searching for some sign of support; she found only a shaking head of disapproval and another pair of pleading eyes looking back. “Relena don’t do this”, he begged, “I’m not just telling you this as your bodyguard. You don’t know what you’re getting in to.”
“Jacob Deter; age 39”, Tyler’s face remained unchanged as he reported her future inmate, “During his seven year reign of terror this man sexually molested ten women, only one of which escaped with her life. He was able to evade capture for such a long time because of the political happenings, which destabilized the government. When he finally was captured he was in line to be put on death row but was soon off it due to the ban on capital punishment; an action, if I’m not mistaken, which you completely supported.”
Relena closed her eyes and solemnly nodded her head. She could have sworn she’d heard that name somewhere before; actually all of it seemed to be familiar; but she couldn’t quite remember where or how.
Tyler’s smirk widened, “Ironic isn’t it?” He paused for a moment then continued, “After putting you in the cell, I’ll come back twenty-four hours later to collect you; or, what’s left of you. If you’re all right after being in a cell with this man alone for twenty-four hours, you win, simple as that.”
“Relena don’t”, the wide-eyed Heero looked like he was close to getting on his knees, “I can’t let you do this!”
“You’re more then welcomed to back out, Ms. Darlian”, reminded Tyler, “just be aware though, that once you’re in the cell you’re on your own for twenty-four hours. It’s your choice.”
She looked back at Heero; he looked so desperate she almost wanted to cry. “I……… I have to Heero”, she swallowed a pocket of air in an effort to somehow suppress the expanding balloon beneath her rib cage, “It’s our only……… OH!”, she gasped; her cerulean blue eyes grew as wide as gulf balls as a large mechanical tentacle wrapped around her waste and carried her away into the darkness.
Heero’s normally calm and collected exterior erupted into a red explosive rage; he ran to the edge of the platform that Relena had been carried off towards clenching his fists, “NO!” His legs grew weak and bowed out from under him; as they hit the floor he punched the padding with all he had, leaving a fist shaped dent in the platform. He glared at Tyler with burning eyes, “Tyler, I swear I’m going to kill you”, the words slid off his acid tongue with a hiss, “I will find a way.”
Tyler simply hung off to his side, above a long, dark drop with a blank expression on his face. He seemed neither interested nor concerned about the former Gundam pilot’s threat. “Spare me your violent banter”, he finally said, his voice was without fear or much emotion at all, almost mocking his threat, “It was her decision.” He then slipped back into the abyss of machines where it was too dark for Heero to see.
Fury and panic bounced in the former pilot of 01’s mind; the thought that that may have been the last time he ever saw Relena alive stirred some long forgotten emotion within Heero’s gut, which churned it’s way up his wind pipe, reddening his face. Each time he tried to swallow it, it simply came back stronger then before, it seemed the vile sensation grew infinitely. He wanted her back more then anything; he wasn’t sure what he would do but he would have gladly cut off his own leg and seared the wound shut with a hot iron just for another minute with her. He wasn’t quite sure what he would do or say in that minute but he’d take it at any cost, if nothing else then to just look at her. “TYLER!”, Heero’s normally quitter, more monotone voice boomed through the complex with a rageful passion so blinding the world seemed stained with blood, “If ANYTHING, happens to her I WILL KILL YOU!” His back rose and fell with each desperate panting breath for several minutes – how many he could not tell – until he was finally able to think again. He soon found himself on his back, prostrate; a lock of dark hair hung in his cobalt eye, but he found no energy to move it. ‘Why does this always happen to me?’ he thought, ‘How come God or fate or Allah, or whatever the hell I’m supposed to believe in never gives me a damn break?’ His chest seemed to tighten the more it thought about it. Trowa, Quatre, Duo, Zechs they all have families of some type now; maybe WuFei didn’t but at least he had a family at one time. Before meeting Relena, the closest thing to a family he could clearly remember was the man he was for all practical purposes apprenticed to, and a number of other older rebels and terrorists he had found himself tossed between. However, all of them, each and every one of them had been torn away from him at some point or another, whether it was by death, circumstance or abandonment and now, he feared, Relena would join them. ‘So why?’, he continued, ‘Why was I supposed to be alone?’
~*~*~ TIME: Unknown ~*~*~
Luck seemed to have been with her, for a while at least, her ‘inmate’ had been asleep when she entered the cell and she had no intention of waking him yet; she just coward against the other side of their cell with her back against the cold stone wall. To say she was frightened would be an understatement; she couldn’t even hold her hand completely still and there was an unpleasant aching sensation in the pit of her stomach. There was nowhere to hide; the cell was almost completely circular and seemed to have been carved out of rocks in the ground; it was dark but there was enough light to see everything in the room easily and the only furniture were two cots that were side by side, one obviously occupied by a man the man in the bright orange prison uniform.
‘Jacob Deter’, she pondered, ‘where do I remember that name from? The news?’
The man stirred a bit, and Relena’s heart stopped beating, her eyes expanded and she backed herself into the wall as tight as she could – half hoping to somehow permeate the wall to safety. Fortunately, the man didn’t wake up.
‘Stupid, stupid, stupid’, she criticized herself wordlessly, ‘Relena you’re so stupid. What did I think I was going to do?’ She quickly scanned the sleeping felon, ‘He’s not as big as Heero but he still looks a lot stronger then me. Come on Relena, think, there’s got to be some way to get through this.’
“You’re here? You’re really here?” Relena snapped her head back up as she noticed that the previously sleeping felon had finally woken up, and furthermore finally got a good look at his face. To her utter horror she finally recalled where she remembered the name. The red hair on his top had grown longer and coiled, and roughage had now covered his whole jaw area but she remembered his face from the mug shots she saw on the report she glanced at four years ago. He had been caught trying to break into the Presidential Residence, when he was further investigated they found that he had been obsessing over her for quite some time. More precisely, they found hundreds of newspapers and magazine cutouts of her along with dozens of pictures of other fair skinned, blonde haired; blue eyed girls and young women whom were later identified as his previous victims. She could vaguely remember skimming the high points of the report and then brushing it aside; it wasn’t that she didn’t care, it was that she had more important things to do then dwell on some psychopath who couldn’t even make it past the first security net; like work on getting the ban on capital punishment passed.
“Oh my god”, she practically shouted, “you!”, she accusingly stammered, “you stay away.” Her light blue eyes were Pong balls as she franticly examined her imprisonment for any means of escape; but the walls were all solid and the only escape was on the ceiling.
The man rose from his cot and focused his olive eyes on the terrified girl against the wall. “You finally came”, he stated in what sounded like controlled excitement, “I knew it was love.” It almost sounded like he was trying to sound seductive but as far as Relena was concerned he couldn’t be doing a worse job.
“Love!?”, the very unpresidential president shrieked as she released herself from the hard stone wall and began scooting to her left in and effort to somehow delay his approach but she knew it was a futile act; she was completely boxed in and it was only a matter of time before he cornered her. The curved walls of the room seemed to close in around her as her panicked mind tried to unearth a solution to her predicament. Blanks were all she found, though.
“Yes, love, don’t you remember?” The red haired convict quickened his pace. “I could tell it was love since the first time you looked at me like that.”
“I’m sorry”, she responded, “but I don’t ever remember meeting you before, EVER.” She had put great effort into trying not to sound frightened but she wasn’t quite sure how believable it was since she couldn’t completely keep her hands steady.
“Don’t you remember”, he slowed down and widened his green eyes a bit as though he were hurt, “Don’t you remember your speech in Bradford? The way you looked at me, I knew you felt the same way too.”
“I think you might be mistaken”, she interrupted, “I’ve done a lot of speeches and I don’t remember you at any of them.” ‘He’s completely out of his mind’, she mentally noted.
He seemed to completely ignore what she said and continued with his rant, “I tried to see you later; I did, honest I did. Your guards stopped me though and were going to kill me too but you stopped them; and now, you’ve finally come to see me.”
“I……… I”, she faltered, “Y, you’ve raped ten women”, she accused.
Jacob’s face still remained calm as he began to steadily close the distance between them, “I loved them all too, but they betrayed me. But you, you’d never betray me. You’re Relena Peacecraft, you could never do that to someone.”
Relena quickened her back steps. “Just stay away, please”, she pleaded.
“Don’t be afraid”, he assured her, “There’s no need to fear love.”
Relena could have vomit. “What’s wrong with you?”, she screeched. Her legs hit something unexpected on her back step and she stumbled only to be caught by and in the arms of her pursuer. Somewhere in the back of her mind it registered that it was a cot that she had just stumbled on, that didn’t really seem to matter much though.
He held her tightly by the waist and tugged on her golden ponytail so hard it tilted her face up to his. “I love you so much”, he whispered to the petrified young blonde in his arms.
“I,I,I………”, she had trouble forcing the words out of her mouth on account of its continuous quivering, “I don’t love you”, she weakly stated, as a tear rolled down her cheek.
“You do”, he replied as he forced his lips to hers.
The attacks of his mouth seemed as if they were meant to bruise her, the bristles of his growing beard seemed to leave scratches where they rubbed. She struggled, she tried to push herself away but his grip grew tighter. She was unable barely able to breath, to petrified to scream; not that screaming would have done any good, she was completely on her own. If only she were stronger, if only she weren’t such a weak littlie pacifist, if only she were……… ‘Heero’, she mentally uttered, ‘what would Heero do? Fight, right? Can I?’ She could feel her attacker tugging down on her pants. ‘Pacifism be damned!’
The advancing pervert withdrew as he felt the unpleasant sensation of the smaller woman’s knee making a sudden connection with his groin. Likewise, Rlenena backed up, just as surprised as him. Time seemed to stop as Relena couldn’t help but find herself gawking at the red haired man, whom had just been molesting her, cradling his delicate genitals. Something about the situation seemed surreal to her, she could remember planning the action, she could even remember carrying it out but it still didn’t seem to connect in her brain completely so she just sustained her bewildered stare until her head abruptly snapped to her right. There wasn’t any pain, at first; there was just a resounding smacking sound – like a textbook being dropped on a table - that seemed to come out of nowhere. When it finally dawned on her that she had just been struck, the culprit was violently pulling her down with him to the cot. She kicked, she screamed, she thrashed, she cried but was unable to brake free of her attacker’s grip and inevitably found herself pinned beneath him. He was pressing against her harder, tugging and tearing her ivory white clothing. She made another attempt at his sensitive area but only hit his inner leg; he returned the blow to her face. This time, she went limp, seemingly devoid of any energy or will.
“YOU WILL LOVE ME!”, the man on top of her practically shouted as he frantically ripped open her jacket.
Fluid began to spill out from her eyes, she was defeated; there was nowhere to run, there was no way to fight him off and no one would hear her screams; there was no hope. As much as it curled her stomach and soured her thoughts she could see no other possible way to survive this man then to submit to his warped fantasy.
“Tell me you love me”, he rubbed is rough callous hand along her delicate quivering jaw line.
“I………”, she tilted her head as her lungs struggled to wind out the slimy words, “I……... love you.”
He pushed her head back up, his hands aggravating the tender bruises that were already developing on the side of her face. “Look at me and tell me!”
The words rubbed off her tong with the slip of sand paper “h……… h……… I, do”.
He pressed his mouth to hers and dug his tongue through her lips; his rotting fumes permeated her nasals as his heavy body rocked against hers. She could feel his hands finishing their previous task of dragging themselves down her hips exposing the pale sensitive flesh. She closed her eyes, grimacing in advance to the imminent moment when he would come on her like an ax to wood; and then, without warning, all the weight was gone.
She kept her eyes shut, for fear of the possibilities outside of them, ‘Was it a dream; a nightmare? Am I safe? Did I black out? Noises? Pounding? I can here metal too; what happened?’
And then she heard a voice, which prodded her eyes to open, revealing the truth to her. The voice was by no means friendly, and while not entirely welcomed was far more pleasing to hear then the ranting of her assailant. It was somewhat monotone, not entirely deep enough to come across as macho and the words seemed to lack the use of the nose.
“Are you done?” Tyler’s mouth bowed up slightly but his expression still seemed to remain indifferent to the wild red haired man attacking his body.
He seemed to pause for a moment then swung his large fist at the cyborg’s head, only to be caught in the vice grip of Tyler’s black gloved, mechanically enhanced hand. For a moment the two were at a stand still, exchanging glares, but the moment soon passed as Relena witnessed Tylers hand close in on Mr. Deter’s fist.
“UUUAOOOHHH!!! AHHH!!! H HUUEE!”, the torturous screams frame the frizzy red haired man revirbed throughout the small circular cell with an ear pounding volume accompanied by the cracking and popping of his hand bones under the crushing vice Tyler, the cyborg, was applying. He released the man letting his arm dangle at his side like a fleshy pole connected to a purplish bag of shattered bones and torn muscle. He was not yet done though.
Relena witnessed the cold precision of a mechanical hand weaving around the tortured, screaming prisoner and latching onto his back; with a short and violent jerk at the waist, there was another audible snap and another scream of agony as the his legs bowed out from under him.
With the pain soaked man on the floor, Tyler returned his attention to Relena and Relena - realizing that her pants were lower then modesty would like - pulled her, now somewhat torn, ivory slacks back up. “You!”, she finally stammered out in a rage full outburst of tears.
“Don’t try to pin this on me Relena, you were ‘well aware of the risks’; I didn’t force you to do a single thing. In fact, I don’t believe I advised it, even. It isn’t my fault this happened so I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t say it is. Actually, you should be thanking me; our original outline of the experiment stated that you were to be left alone for a full twenty-four hours with this man.”
“You!”, her face was scarlet with anger, “This wasn’t fair! He was insane! He had some twisted obsession with me.”
“It was completely fair”, he shot back, face still deadpan, “It was the most accurate way to test. The purpose of the experiment was to determine whether these people could change without a collective mind and thus, didn’t deserve to be my test subjects. So, in order to be absolutely sure, we had to test the one that was most likely to assault you. If your golden tongue was able to sway him then surly the others aren’t beyond conventional help themselves. Although, I must admit, the obsession thing was a bit disturbing. He meant full well what he said though; it’s quite interesting actually.
“Anyway, if you’re so dead set on insisting this wasn’t fair I’d be more then willing to toss you in with another one if you’d.”
Relena’s shoulders heaved up and down beneath her ravaged golden tresses, her face still bright with fury and confusion. “I……… I………”
“That’s what I thought.” Tyler gestured to the sweaty man writhing in pain on the floor, “Anyway, what should I do with him? I could let him lie there and die slowly in pain, I could use the bees to heal him or………”, He held up his left arm and a bladed tentacle weapon shot out of the large pod on his wrist and settled with the sharp, glistening tip hanging only five inches above Jacob’s scull, “I could just put him out of his misery right here and now. It’s up to you.”
The frazzled blond haired woman simply gawked for several hour-long seconds, mouth half gaping open as she tried to hold back her tears. She looked down from her cot, with her sapphire eyes to the man whom had just been molesting her; he was wet and red, grimacing, half conscious as he irregularly struggled to pump air in and out of his lungs. She meekly shook her head, still bewildered in her expression, “no”, her words were nearly inaudible, “let him live, please”. With those last words she sank back down and curled up; unable to restrain her sorrow and confusion, tears resumed their stream from her eyes.
Tyler retracted the blade back into the wrist pod. He turned back to the weeping woman, with a small scowl, “Very well then. Your wounds are only superficial and will repair by themselves but I could easily fix them before I take you back.”
She answered with sobs.
“I see.”
LOCATION: Preventer’s Base Camp
~*~*~ TIME: 11:02 PM ~*~*~
“You’re watching, INSANITY VIEW!” blasted the television.
The screen then blanked out for a partial second and then shown bright again with a large blue CG title, which was too close to read, but was slowly backing away.
“Few stories have the INTRIGUE”, an over-exaggerated, deep, serious voice stated as the word ‘intrigue’ flashed across the screen, “the DRAMA”, the word ‘drama’ was next, “the PASSION and the BOOZE, that can match the greatest tail of our time as………”, the CG title tilted out to an angle where it was legible, “DARLIAN!”
“From her school years”, a pretty actress dressed to look like a younger Relean Darlian jumped into a cheering crowd of teens holding, what looked like some kind of alcohol. The party-hardy crowd begin carrying and bouncing her up and down but drop her as their attention turns to a large cake being rolled into the ballroom; recorded laughter is heard as a background noise.
“Her reign over the Sanc Kingdom as Peacecraft”, the actress was sitting as a wooden desk with her legs up on the table. She has a cocky smile on her face and is talking to an actor meant to look something like Heero, “Well, there’s your school uniform she commented.” The actor began walking out off the screen with the uniform in hand but is interrupted by the actress playing Relena, “Oh no you don’t, you’re changing in here.” Her finger slipped underneath her desk and shortly after, the curtains in her office closes while bright colorful lights open up around her office and a pole drops from the ceiling. More recorded laughter is heard in the background.
The deep voice started up again, “to her rise to power in the Romefeller Foundation”. The camra shows the upper half of an actor dressed to resemble Duke Durmail looking down wide eyed wile jiggling somewhat and ranting in a British accent, “Oh My, that feels rather good actually. Oh , oh gracious me good show! Jolly good show I say!” The recorded laughter was stronger this time.
“And even, in recent times”, the deep voice continued. An actor playing Quatre seemed particularly nervous about being around the actress playing Relena in a revealing red dress and a champagne glass in her hand. “Aw come on Quatre, one isn’t going to kill ya”, the actress challenged as she closed the distance between her and Quatre. Quatre backed away, “B………but miss Relena, I don’t drink alchohol, uh what are you……?” the actress playing Relena pounced the actor playing Quatre, at which point, it freeze framed and the title appeared on the screen again “DARLIAN! Coming to the theatre near you.” Laughter, hollers, clapping and whistling broadcasted from the set as the screen faded to a stage, illuminated with the Insanity View logo.
A fuming Quatre smashed the power switch and the television screen went blank. He then shot Duo – whom was trying his best to suppress his mirth for his old comrade’s sake – one of his few and less then intimidating glares. “I really don’t see why that’s funny?”, he reproached.
Duo looked up at the blonde Arab, now, more then ever, trying to hold down the smile but could only manage a twisted expression, which seemed likely to pop. “I’m sorry man, it just is”, he shook his head as he explained himself.
“Hm………”, growled the particularly annoyed Arabian aristocrat, “They completely twisted that whole incident around. She tripped; she was wearing high heels; the media just took it and ran.”
Duo rose from his seat and cupped the bandage around his right arm as the burn delivered a short rush of pain. “Well”, he grimaced slightly, “at least we know this whole thing is still a secret.”
“Yeah………”, Quatre turned his head to the left and stared down one of the nearby enclosure curtains. After realizing that the robin’s egg curtain was simply going to hang there separating one part of the medical tent from the other he turned back to his braided friend, “I’ve got to get back to the others, we’re going to be planning our next move. Are you sure you want out?”
The mild displeasure caused by being constantly asked that for the past day was beginning to upset him but he forced himself to hide it, “I told you man, as soon as I can, I’m out of here.”
Quatre sighed in defeat, “Well, alright then, I’ll be leaving”. A dark aura followed the blonde man as he trudged away from the ‘God of Death’.
“Hey Quatre!”, Duo called after him while trying to lighten his expression some more, “Hey, what’s the matter?”
Air seeped into the Arab’s lungs and slowly expelled as he gathered his thoughts. After a short period of silence he finally exercised his vocals again, “Something just isn’t right.”
Duo couldn’t restrain a snicker, “Well, duh………”
“No, I mean something bad is going to happen”, Quatre greenish blue eyes narrowed and his mouth went stern as he turned back around to see his comrade’s half-smirk.
“Quatre”, the chestnut haired man replied as politely as he could, yet still, sarcastically, “something bad has already happened.”
“It’s just going to get worse soon”, he corrected himself, “It’s been gnawing at my heart all day; something truly awful is going to happen.”
Duo hobbled closer to Quatre; a nighttime desert breeze caught his long braided hair and gently shook it to the side. “Listen Quatre, it’s called anxiety; we’re all feeling it but there’s no need to worry, cause I know Heero would never let either Relena or himself die like this. Got it?”
“Maybe”, the former Sandrock pilot answered weakly, “I, I hope you’re right Duo but………”
Duo cocked his sunburned eyebrow for a moment.
“Have you ever………?”, continued Quatre, “Have you ever just had some strong feeling about something and not understand……?”
“Huh?”
“Nothing Duo, I can’t really explain it. It’s just……… Heero……… it’s pain; he’s going to make a grave mistake, and………”
Duo placed a comforting hand on Quate’s shoulder, “Listen, just, calm down and get some rest, no one really knows the future, got it?”
Quatre picked his head up and managed a weak smile, “I guess I do need some rest.”
“Yeah”, the braided man’s mood brightened in correlation to Quatre’s, “fortune telling’s just a bunch a hogwash anyway, right?”
Quatre’s smile switched to a glare.
Duo put his hands up in surrender, “Ok, ok, went too far. Just trying to make you fell better. sheesh.”
“How did you figure calling me crazy would make me feel better?”, his voice was stern.
The former Deathscythe pilot shrugged slightly, “Well, I didn’t exactly call you crazy Quatre, but sorry man”
“That’s all right, Duo”, Quatre shook his head, “I’ve been edgy lately. I think I’m going to take your advice and get some rest.” He paused for a moment, ‘When I can’, he silently added. “Good night.”
“Night Quatre”, Duo waved as his wealthy comrade left the medical tent.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
AN: Again, I’m sorry this took so long. I’ll try to get chapter 11 out a lot sooner but I’m not making any guarantees. It seems I’ve been getting busier by the day and I may just not have either the time or the energy to get it done in a timely fashion. However, I’ve finally turned in the last of the three long-term projects I had been assigned so hopefully I’ll have more time.
I also wanted to mention that I rearranged events (again); I took what was originally going to be the second part of this chapter and added it to the next. There are two reasons for this A) This chapter was already long enough, and B) there really wasn’t that much in the next chapter so I wanted to lengthen it.
The Beehive
Chapter 10: The Experiment
DATE: February 20, 203 AC
LOCATION: Preventer’s Base Camp
~*~*~ TIME: 1:05 PM ~*~*~
Blood money, that’s all it really was in reality, no matter how hard she thought about it she couldn’t see it as anything more then trading lives for lives. It sickened her, what she was doing; she could hardly believe that Lady Une approved it but it’s not that she could blame her either. Her thoughts raced even faster as the armored truck drove past, trying to think of a legitimate reason to stop it, but her mind pulled up a blank. There was just no way around it, and that’s what curled her intestines the most.
“There’s no reason to be so upset, Sally”, Trowa assured her, “it was the only course of action we could possibly have taken.”
Sally turned around to see Trowa leaning against a roadside poll; his oversized red bang seemed to shimmer in the relentless sunrays that bombarded them from the large radiating globe in the sky. He was studying her with his expressionless green spheres.
She heaved her shoulders in a sigh, “It still doesn’t make me feel any better.” Her blue squinty eyes narrowed as they observed a second armored truck passing by.
“We’re only handing over about fifteen of the requested prisoners”, he continued, “it should be just enough to buy some time.”
“To do what?”, she snapped.
“I don’t know”, Trowa admitted, “but we can’t risk them attacking a civilian center.”
The blond Chinese woman gasped and marched past Trowa to one of the nearby tents, taking shelter from the merciless sun; Trowa followed, still studying her body language. “So”, she finally broke the moment’s silence, “We’re just trading lives. I feel like some savage tribal, offering a human sacrifice.” She picked up a towel off of a nearby table and wiped the salty droplets of moisture that had excreted from her brow.
“I understand, Sally”, replied the ever calm and analytical Trowa, “but there comes a time where you have to make a choice about things. I’m afraid that we may in fact be making the enemy stronger but I really can’t see what other options we have.”
WuFei came out from behind some large boxes, brandishing a large oriental saber and a polishing clothe, “Besides, I wouldn’t spare them any sympathy.”
After barely restraining her initial impulse to jump out of her socks at the unexpected site of a male figure, seemingly coming out of nowhere, with a sharp metal tool of death, she tilted her red lips into a smug half smile in an effort to hide the shock, “WuFei, were you eaves dropping?”
He turned his attention back to rubbing his blade with the silky white cloth, seemingly uninterested in his two comrade’s conversation, “not really”. He held the sword up and carefully examined it, studying each glint, every glimmer of light the steel blade reflected. Once satisfied, he found the sheath leaning against the box he had ‘hidden’ behind and let the sharp metal shaft slide in. “I think you’re getting too upset about this though; I for one have no intention of letting a bunch of honor-less pigs get in my way. We salvaged most of our mobile suits; we just have to hit them harder and faster next time.”
It wasn’t exactly the type of brilliant plan Sally was looking for but it was definitely something her partner would come up with. He had a point though, they all had a point, it was the only option they really had open to them.
LOCATION: The Beehive Facility
~*~*~ TIME: Unknown ~*~*~
He really didn’t have to say anything; they could tell by the look on his face that he was ready for the ‘experiment’. His eyes fixed on his young female test subject; intently examining her for any signs of hesitation or surrender while his pallid white lips maintained a slight self-assured smirk. “It’s time”, he finally stated.
Slowly, Relena rose from the padded surface she had been sitting on; her stomach churned with a myriad of unsettling fluids and sensations, while her hand quivered slightly, knowing what was about to happen. She turned her pleading blue eyes back to her chocolate haired bodyguard, searching for some sign of support; she found only a shaking head of disapproval and another pair of pleading eyes looking back. “Relena don’t do this”, he begged, “I’m not just telling you this as your bodyguard. You don’t know what you’re getting in to.”
“Jacob Deter; age 39”, Tyler’s face remained unchanged as he reported her future inmate, “During his seven year reign of terror this man sexually molested ten women, only one of which escaped with her life. He was able to evade capture for such a long time because of the political happenings, which destabilized the government. When he finally was captured he was in line to be put on death row but was soon off it due to the ban on capital punishment; an action, if I’m not mistaken, which you completely supported.”
Relena closed her eyes and solemnly nodded her head. She could have sworn she’d heard that name somewhere before; actually all of it seemed to be familiar; but she couldn’t quite remember where or how.
Tyler’s smirk widened, “Ironic isn’t it?” He paused for a moment then continued, “After putting you in the cell, I’ll come back twenty-four hours later to collect you; or, what’s left of you. If you’re all right after being in a cell with this man alone for twenty-four hours, you win, simple as that.”
“Relena don’t”, the wide-eyed Heero looked like he was close to getting on his knees, “I can’t let you do this!”
“You’re more then welcomed to back out, Ms. Darlian”, reminded Tyler, “just be aware though, that once you’re in the cell you’re on your own for twenty-four hours. It’s your choice.”
She looked back at Heero; he looked so desperate she almost wanted to cry. “I……… I have to Heero”, she swallowed a pocket of air in an effort to somehow suppress the expanding balloon beneath her rib cage, “It’s our only……… OH!”, she gasped; her cerulean blue eyes grew as wide as gulf balls as a large mechanical tentacle wrapped around her waste and carried her away into the darkness.
Heero’s normally calm and collected exterior erupted into a red explosive rage; he ran to the edge of the platform that Relena had been carried off towards clenching his fists, “NO!” His legs grew weak and bowed out from under him; as they hit the floor he punched the padding with all he had, leaving a fist shaped dent in the platform. He glared at Tyler with burning eyes, “Tyler, I swear I’m going to kill you”, the words slid off his acid tongue with a hiss, “I will find a way.”
Tyler simply hung off to his side, above a long, dark drop with a blank expression on his face. He seemed neither interested nor concerned about the former Gundam pilot’s threat. “Spare me your violent banter”, he finally said, his voice was without fear or much emotion at all, almost mocking his threat, “It was her decision.” He then slipped back into the abyss of machines where it was too dark for Heero to see.
Fury and panic bounced in the former pilot of 01’s mind; the thought that that may have been the last time he ever saw Relena alive stirred some long forgotten emotion within Heero’s gut, which churned it’s way up his wind pipe, reddening his face. Each time he tried to swallow it, it simply came back stronger then before, it seemed the vile sensation grew infinitely. He wanted her back more then anything; he wasn’t sure what he would do but he would have gladly cut off his own leg and seared the wound shut with a hot iron just for another minute with her. He wasn’t quite sure what he would do or say in that minute but he’d take it at any cost, if nothing else then to just look at her. “TYLER!”, Heero’s normally quitter, more monotone voice boomed through the complex with a rageful passion so blinding the world seemed stained with blood, “If ANYTHING, happens to her I WILL KILL YOU!” His back rose and fell with each desperate panting breath for several minutes – how many he could not tell – until he was finally able to think again. He soon found himself on his back, prostrate; a lock of dark hair hung in his cobalt eye, but he found no energy to move it. ‘Why does this always happen to me?’ he thought, ‘How come God or fate or Allah, or whatever the hell I’m supposed to believe in never gives me a damn break?’ His chest seemed to tighten the more it thought about it. Trowa, Quatre, Duo, Zechs they all have families of some type now; maybe WuFei didn’t but at least he had a family at one time. Before meeting Relena, the closest thing to a family he could clearly remember was the man he was for all practical purposes apprenticed to, and a number of other older rebels and terrorists he had found himself tossed between. However, all of them, each and every one of them had been torn away from him at some point or another, whether it was by death, circumstance or abandonment and now, he feared, Relena would join them. ‘So why?’, he continued, ‘Why was I supposed to be alone?’
~*~*~ TIME: Unknown ~*~*~
Luck seemed to have been with her, for a while at least, her ‘inmate’ had been asleep when she entered the cell and she had no intention of waking him yet; she just coward against the other side of their cell with her back against the cold stone wall. To say she was frightened would be an understatement; she couldn’t even hold her hand completely still and there was an unpleasant aching sensation in the pit of her stomach. There was nowhere to hide; the cell was almost completely circular and seemed to have been carved out of rocks in the ground; it was dark but there was enough light to see everything in the room easily and the only furniture were two cots that were side by side, one obviously occupied by a man the man in the bright orange prison uniform.
‘Jacob Deter’, she pondered, ‘where do I remember that name from? The news?’
The man stirred a bit, and Relena’s heart stopped beating, her eyes expanded and she backed herself into the wall as tight as she could – half hoping to somehow permeate the wall to safety. Fortunately, the man didn’t wake up.
‘Stupid, stupid, stupid’, she criticized herself wordlessly, ‘Relena you’re so stupid. What did I think I was going to do?’ She quickly scanned the sleeping felon, ‘He’s not as big as Heero but he still looks a lot stronger then me. Come on Relena, think, there’s got to be some way to get through this.’
“You’re here? You’re really here?” Relena snapped her head back up as she noticed that the previously sleeping felon had finally woken up, and furthermore finally got a good look at his face. To her utter horror she finally recalled where she remembered the name. The red hair on his top had grown longer and coiled, and roughage had now covered his whole jaw area but she remembered his face from the mug shots she saw on the report she glanced at four years ago. He had been caught trying to break into the Presidential Residence, when he was further investigated they found that he had been obsessing over her for quite some time. More precisely, they found hundreds of newspapers and magazine cutouts of her along with dozens of pictures of other fair skinned, blonde haired; blue eyed girls and young women whom were later identified as his previous victims. She could vaguely remember skimming the high points of the report and then brushing it aside; it wasn’t that she didn’t care, it was that she had more important things to do then dwell on some psychopath who couldn’t even make it past the first security net; like work on getting the ban on capital punishment passed.
“Oh my god”, she practically shouted, “you!”, she accusingly stammered, “you stay away.” Her light blue eyes were Pong balls as she franticly examined her imprisonment for any means of escape; but the walls were all solid and the only escape was on the ceiling.
The man rose from his cot and focused his olive eyes on the terrified girl against the wall. “You finally came”, he stated in what sounded like controlled excitement, “I knew it was love.” It almost sounded like he was trying to sound seductive but as far as Relena was concerned he couldn’t be doing a worse job.
“Love!?”, the very unpresidential president shrieked as she released herself from the hard stone wall and began scooting to her left in and effort to somehow delay his approach but she knew it was a futile act; she was completely boxed in and it was only a matter of time before he cornered her. The curved walls of the room seemed to close in around her as her panicked mind tried to unearth a solution to her predicament. Blanks were all she found, though.
“Yes, love, don’t you remember?” The red haired convict quickened his pace. “I could tell it was love since the first time you looked at me like that.”
“I’m sorry”, she responded, “but I don’t ever remember meeting you before, EVER.” She had put great effort into trying not to sound frightened but she wasn’t quite sure how believable it was since she couldn’t completely keep her hands steady.
“Don’t you remember”, he slowed down and widened his green eyes a bit as though he were hurt, “Don’t you remember your speech in Bradford? The way you looked at me, I knew you felt the same way too.”
“I think you might be mistaken”, she interrupted, “I’ve done a lot of speeches and I don’t remember you at any of them.” ‘He’s completely out of his mind’, she mentally noted.
He seemed to completely ignore what she said and continued with his rant, “I tried to see you later; I did, honest I did. Your guards stopped me though and were going to kill me too but you stopped them; and now, you’ve finally come to see me.”
“I……… I”, she faltered, “Y, you’ve raped ten women”, she accused.
Jacob’s face still remained calm as he began to steadily close the distance between them, “I loved them all too, but they betrayed me. But you, you’d never betray me. You’re Relena Peacecraft, you could never do that to someone.”
Relena quickened her back steps. “Just stay away, please”, she pleaded.
“Don’t be afraid”, he assured her, “There’s no need to fear love.”
Relena could have vomit. “What’s wrong with you?”, she screeched. Her legs hit something unexpected on her back step and she stumbled only to be caught by and in the arms of her pursuer. Somewhere in the back of her mind it registered that it was a cot that she had just stumbled on, that didn’t really seem to matter much though.
He held her tightly by the waist and tugged on her golden ponytail so hard it tilted her face up to his. “I love you so much”, he whispered to the petrified young blonde in his arms.
“I,I,I………”, she had trouble forcing the words out of her mouth on account of its continuous quivering, “I don’t love you”, she weakly stated, as a tear rolled down her cheek.
“You do”, he replied as he forced his lips to hers.
The attacks of his mouth seemed as if they were meant to bruise her, the bristles of his growing beard seemed to leave scratches where they rubbed. She struggled, she tried to push herself away but his grip grew tighter. She was unable barely able to breath, to petrified to scream; not that screaming would have done any good, she was completely on her own. If only she were stronger, if only she weren’t such a weak littlie pacifist, if only she were……… ‘Heero’, she mentally uttered, ‘what would Heero do? Fight, right? Can I?’ She could feel her attacker tugging down on her pants. ‘Pacifism be damned!’
The advancing pervert withdrew as he felt the unpleasant sensation of the smaller woman’s knee making a sudden connection with his groin. Likewise, Rlenena backed up, just as surprised as him. Time seemed to stop as Relena couldn’t help but find herself gawking at the red haired man, whom had just been molesting her, cradling his delicate genitals. Something about the situation seemed surreal to her, she could remember planning the action, she could even remember carrying it out but it still didn’t seem to connect in her brain completely so she just sustained her bewildered stare until her head abruptly snapped to her right. There wasn’t any pain, at first; there was just a resounding smacking sound – like a textbook being dropped on a table - that seemed to come out of nowhere. When it finally dawned on her that she had just been struck, the culprit was violently pulling her down with him to the cot. She kicked, she screamed, she thrashed, she cried but was unable to brake free of her attacker’s grip and inevitably found herself pinned beneath him. He was pressing against her harder, tugging and tearing her ivory white clothing. She made another attempt at his sensitive area but only hit his inner leg; he returned the blow to her face. This time, she went limp, seemingly devoid of any energy or will.
“YOU WILL LOVE ME!”, the man on top of her practically shouted as he frantically ripped open her jacket.
Fluid began to spill out from her eyes, she was defeated; there was nowhere to run, there was no way to fight him off and no one would hear her screams; there was no hope. As much as it curled her stomach and soured her thoughts she could see no other possible way to survive this man then to submit to his warped fantasy.
“Tell me you love me”, he rubbed is rough callous hand along her delicate quivering jaw line.
“I………”, she tilted her head as her lungs struggled to wind out the slimy words, “I……... love you.”
He pushed her head back up, his hands aggravating the tender bruises that were already developing on the side of her face. “Look at me and tell me!”
The words rubbed off her tong with the slip of sand paper “h……… h……… I, do”.
He pressed his mouth to hers and dug his tongue through her lips; his rotting fumes permeated her nasals as his heavy body rocked against hers. She could feel his hands finishing their previous task of dragging themselves down her hips exposing the pale sensitive flesh. She closed her eyes, grimacing in advance to the imminent moment when he would come on her like an ax to wood; and then, without warning, all the weight was gone.
She kept her eyes shut, for fear of the possibilities outside of them, ‘Was it a dream; a nightmare? Am I safe? Did I black out? Noises? Pounding? I can here metal too; what happened?’
And then she heard a voice, which prodded her eyes to open, revealing the truth to her. The voice was by no means friendly, and while not entirely welcomed was far more pleasing to hear then the ranting of her assailant. It was somewhat monotone, not entirely deep enough to come across as macho and the words seemed to lack the use of the nose.
“Are you done?” Tyler’s mouth bowed up slightly but his expression still seemed to remain indifferent to the wild red haired man attacking his body.
He seemed to pause for a moment then swung his large fist at the cyborg’s head, only to be caught in the vice grip of Tyler’s black gloved, mechanically enhanced hand. For a moment the two were at a stand still, exchanging glares, but the moment soon passed as Relena witnessed Tylers hand close in on Mr. Deter’s fist.
“UUUAOOOHHH!!! AHHH!!! H HUUEE!”, the torturous screams frame the frizzy red haired man revirbed throughout the small circular cell with an ear pounding volume accompanied by the cracking and popping of his hand bones under the crushing vice Tyler, the cyborg, was applying. He released the man letting his arm dangle at his side like a fleshy pole connected to a purplish bag of shattered bones and torn muscle. He was not yet done though.
Relena witnessed the cold precision of a mechanical hand weaving around the tortured, screaming prisoner and latching onto his back; with a short and violent jerk at the waist, there was another audible snap and another scream of agony as the his legs bowed out from under him.
With the pain soaked man on the floor, Tyler returned his attention to Relena and Relena - realizing that her pants were lower then modesty would like - pulled her, now somewhat torn, ivory slacks back up. “You!”, she finally stammered out in a rage full outburst of tears.
“Don’t try to pin this on me Relena, you were ‘well aware of the risks’; I didn’t force you to do a single thing. In fact, I don’t believe I advised it, even. It isn’t my fault this happened so I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t say it is. Actually, you should be thanking me; our original outline of the experiment stated that you were to be left alone for a full twenty-four hours with this man.”
“You!”, her face was scarlet with anger, “This wasn’t fair! He was insane! He had some twisted obsession with me.”
“It was completely fair”, he shot back, face still deadpan, “It was the most accurate way to test. The purpose of the experiment was to determine whether these people could change without a collective mind and thus, didn’t deserve to be my test subjects. So, in order to be absolutely sure, we had to test the one that was most likely to assault you. If your golden tongue was able to sway him then surly the others aren’t beyond conventional help themselves. Although, I must admit, the obsession thing was a bit disturbing. He meant full well what he said though; it’s quite interesting actually.
“Anyway, if you’re so dead set on insisting this wasn’t fair I’d be more then willing to toss you in with another one if you’d.”
Relena’s shoulders heaved up and down beneath her ravaged golden tresses, her face still bright with fury and confusion. “I……… I………”
“That’s what I thought.” Tyler gestured to the sweaty man writhing in pain on the floor, “Anyway, what should I do with him? I could let him lie there and die slowly in pain, I could use the bees to heal him or………”, He held up his left arm and a bladed tentacle weapon shot out of the large pod on his wrist and settled with the sharp, glistening tip hanging only five inches above Jacob’s scull, “I could just put him out of his misery right here and now. It’s up to you.”
The frazzled blond haired woman simply gawked for several hour-long seconds, mouth half gaping open as she tried to hold back her tears. She looked down from her cot, with her sapphire eyes to the man whom had just been molesting her; he was wet and red, grimacing, half conscious as he irregularly struggled to pump air in and out of his lungs. She meekly shook her head, still bewildered in her expression, “no”, her words were nearly inaudible, “let him live, please”. With those last words she sank back down and curled up; unable to restrain her sorrow and confusion, tears resumed their stream from her eyes.
Tyler retracted the blade back into the wrist pod. He turned back to the weeping woman, with a small scowl, “Very well then. Your wounds are only superficial and will repair by themselves but I could easily fix them before I take you back.”
She answered with sobs.
“I see.”
LOCATION: Preventer’s Base Camp
~*~*~ TIME: 11:02 PM ~*~*~
“You’re watching, INSANITY VIEW!” blasted the television.
The screen then blanked out for a partial second and then shown bright again with a large blue CG title, which was too close to read, but was slowly backing away.
“Few stories have the INTRIGUE”, an over-exaggerated, deep, serious voice stated as the word ‘intrigue’ flashed across the screen, “the DRAMA”, the word ‘drama’ was next, “the PASSION and the BOOZE, that can match the greatest tail of our time as………”, the CG title tilted out to an angle where it was legible, “DARLIAN!”
“From her school years”, a pretty actress dressed to look like a younger Relean Darlian jumped into a cheering crowd of teens holding, what looked like some kind of alcohol. The party-hardy crowd begin carrying and bouncing her up and down but drop her as their attention turns to a large cake being rolled into the ballroom; recorded laughter is heard as a background noise.
“Her reign over the Sanc Kingdom as Peacecraft”, the actress was sitting as a wooden desk with her legs up on the table. She has a cocky smile on her face and is talking to an actor meant to look something like Heero, “Well, there’s your school uniform she commented.” The actor began walking out off the screen with the uniform in hand but is interrupted by the actress playing Relena, “Oh no you don’t, you’re changing in here.” Her finger slipped underneath her desk and shortly after, the curtains in her office closes while bright colorful lights open up around her office and a pole drops from the ceiling. More recorded laughter is heard in the background.
The deep voice started up again, “to her rise to power in the Romefeller Foundation”. The camra shows the upper half of an actor dressed to resemble Duke Durmail looking down wide eyed wile jiggling somewhat and ranting in a British accent, “Oh My, that feels rather good actually. Oh , oh gracious me good show! Jolly good show I say!” The recorded laughter was stronger this time.
“And even, in recent times”, the deep voice continued. An actor playing Quatre seemed particularly nervous about being around the actress playing Relena in a revealing red dress and a champagne glass in her hand. “Aw come on Quatre, one isn’t going to kill ya”, the actress challenged as she closed the distance between her and Quatre. Quatre backed away, “B………but miss Relena, I don’t drink alchohol, uh what are you……?” the actress playing Relena pounced the actor playing Quatre, at which point, it freeze framed and the title appeared on the screen again “DARLIAN! Coming to the theatre near you.” Laughter, hollers, clapping and whistling broadcasted from the set as the screen faded to a stage, illuminated with the Insanity View logo.
A fuming Quatre smashed the power switch and the television screen went blank. He then shot Duo – whom was trying his best to suppress his mirth for his old comrade’s sake – one of his few and less then intimidating glares. “I really don’t see why that’s funny?”, he reproached.
Duo looked up at the blonde Arab, now, more then ever, trying to hold down the smile but could only manage a twisted expression, which seemed likely to pop. “I’m sorry man, it just is”, he shook his head as he explained himself.
“Hm………”, growled the particularly annoyed Arabian aristocrat, “They completely twisted that whole incident around. She tripped; she was wearing high heels; the media just took it and ran.”
Duo rose from his seat and cupped the bandage around his right arm as the burn delivered a short rush of pain. “Well”, he grimaced slightly, “at least we know this whole thing is still a secret.”
“Yeah………”, Quatre turned his head to the left and stared down one of the nearby enclosure curtains. After realizing that the robin’s egg curtain was simply going to hang there separating one part of the medical tent from the other he turned back to his braided friend, “I’ve got to get back to the others, we’re going to be planning our next move. Are you sure you want out?”
The mild displeasure caused by being constantly asked that for the past day was beginning to upset him but he forced himself to hide it, “I told you man, as soon as I can, I’m out of here.”
Quatre sighed in defeat, “Well, alright then, I’ll be leaving”. A dark aura followed the blonde man as he trudged away from the ‘God of Death’.
“Hey Quatre!”, Duo called after him while trying to lighten his expression some more, “Hey, what’s the matter?”
Air seeped into the Arab’s lungs and slowly expelled as he gathered his thoughts. After a short period of silence he finally exercised his vocals again, “Something just isn’t right.”
Duo couldn’t restrain a snicker, “Well, duh………”
“No, I mean something bad is going to happen”, Quatre greenish blue eyes narrowed and his mouth went stern as he turned back around to see his comrade’s half-smirk.
“Quatre”, the chestnut haired man replied as politely as he could, yet still, sarcastically, “something bad has already happened.”
“It’s just going to get worse soon”, he corrected himself, “It’s been gnawing at my heart all day; something truly awful is going to happen.”
Duo hobbled closer to Quatre; a nighttime desert breeze caught his long braided hair and gently shook it to the side. “Listen Quatre, it’s called anxiety; we’re all feeling it but there’s no need to worry, cause I know Heero would never let either Relena or himself die like this. Got it?”
“Maybe”, the former Sandrock pilot answered weakly, “I, I hope you’re right Duo but………”
Duo cocked his sunburned eyebrow for a moment.
“Have you ever………?”, continued Quatre, “Have you ever just had some strong feeling about something and not understand……?”
“Huh?”
“Nothing Duo, I can’t really explain it. It’s just……… Heero……… it’s pain; he’s going to make a grave mistake, and………”
Duo placed a comforting hand on Quate’s shoulder, “Listen, just, calm down and get some rest, no one really knows the future, got it?”
Quatre picked his head up and managed a weak smile, “I guess I do need some rest.”
“Yeah”, the braided man’s mood brightened in correlation to Quatre’s, “fortune telling’s just a bunch a hogwash anyway, right?”
Quatre’s smile switched to a glare.
Duo put his hands up in surrender, “Ok, ok, went too far. Just trying to make you fell better. sheesh.”
“How did you figure calling me crazy would make me feel better?”, his voice was stern.
The former Deathscythe pilot shrugged slightly, “Well, I didn’t exactly call you crazy Quatre, but sorry man”
“That’s all right, Duo”, Quatre shook his head, “I’ve been edgy lately. I think I’m going to take your advice and get some rest.” He paused for a moment, ‘When I can’, he silently added. “Good night.”
“Night Quatre”, Duo waved as his wealthy comrade left the medical tent.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
AN: Again, I’m sorry this took so long. I’ll try to get chapter 11 out a lot sooner but I’m not making any guarantees. It seems I’ve been getting busier by the day and I may just not have either the time or the energy to get it done in a timely fashion. However, I’ve finally turned in the last of the three long-term projects I had been assigned so hopefully I’ll have more time.
Hmm...does Tyler like Relena? It seems like he does but hasn't realized it yet. Poor Heero...I hope Relena can rectify the situation so no one has to be killed. Great story...please update soon! 
(Hope your projects go well; I myself must be getting back to homework 
) Only one question...what was that video making fun of Relena, Heero and Quatre about? :-?