In the Silence 2 (CWxRP - NC17)

[Jannbond]

Title: In the Silence 2

His first instinct was to go for his gun. But that was overcome when reason told him it would only complicate matters further. That the man was unstable was clear enough, but outside of that he knew nothing. He had just walked unwittingly into a situation. His experience dictated he take control of and do something about it. From his quick perusal of those closest to the scene, it was apparent that he wasn't going to be allowed any other choice.

Relena squirmed against him, reminding him that he had more than one thing to concern himself with.

"You can put me down. I'm not in any danger, obviously."

Her tone was careful, precise, the sort she would have used to placate a raging politician, but the slight tremble in her hands when she pushed at his told him different. Wufei had no other recourse but to admire that. He needed someone that could keep from falling apart.

Of all the women to be stuck with in a hostage situation, she was one of the few he would have chosen because of that. Which was laughable, really, considering situations such as this hardly allowed you to prepare for who your partner would be. If that were the case, he would rather have Sally Po. His years as a Preventer taught him to appreciate her quick thinking and immediate retaliation.

"Wufei?"

He hadn't thought when he saw the danger, only reacted. The truth was, they weren't even that close yet. It embarrassed him that he had automatically protected her, and had done it as if death were just a touch away. Never mind that doing so was his assignment. Having your pride bruised was never a pleasant experience, and he was no more immune than the next man.

The capability of the human mind to process thoughts in the passage of a single breath never ceased to amaze him.

Lips thinning, irritation directed inward, he set her down, refusing to comment, but forced to be content enough with her next to him and within sight. His focus needed to be here, and on what it was exactly he would do. The first step would always be to figure out what had happened to provoke this. Most hostage situations, he had learned, stemmed from something. The loss of a job, a divorce, a death... As much information as he could glean would give him a better success rate, and so he didn't hesitate to grasp the arm of the nearest person backing past them.

Frightened already, the man reared back and stared up at him with wide, frantic eyes.

In Relena's opinion, the stern, uncompromising expression on Wufei's face did nothing to ease the panic. Mindful of her tense, churning stomach and the tightness in her chest, she forced herself to turn away from the terrified cries of the child and fastened a confidence invoking smile on her face. To counteract Wufei's firm grip she gently touched the man's arm, drawing his attention to her.

The quick, dark look Wufei shot her told her how little he appreciated her interference. At this point, she was hardly going to concern herself with that. Their priority would be getting that child away and safe. She could hardly stand to listen to the sobs, torn from somewhere deep inside, a place where fear was all the baby knew and all she breathed. The man's occasional scream for someone to move away drowned them out, but only for a second. Instead he paced, and as he did, her anxiety grew. She was not an expert, but it seemed he was searching for something. She was afraid that if he didn't find it, he was going to kill first the baby, and then himself.

Her eyes darted around for a moment. First this man, and then she would placate the crowd before they became hysterical and made things worse. And because she could actively be doing something, the next breath of air she forced out was a bit more steady.

"What happened?" She asked carefully, gently.

The man swallowed hard, his throat jumping with the motion. "He-the man-he grabbed the baby. I mean, after he took the gun from the waistband of his pants. He started screaming about making God pay because it wasn't fair. He said it wasn't fair she should die... And that kid should live, so-" And the man rattled on, his words running together and hitching until Relena had to pull him away from Wufei and sit him down, telling him to put his head between his legs and take deep lung filling breaths of air.

Wufei watched her, appreciated her skill for the second he had to do so, and then turned his attention back to the man.

The child was still crying, but the man didn't appear to hear her. He was lost in a world of his own making, muttering to himself and occasionally waving the gun, his face contorted rage filled with a misery and a pain Wufei could only guess at. But pity was not something he allowed. No, because in that man's place, it would have pushed him over the edge. He knew... He had been here before. Only in his hands, had been a power capable of destroying more than a single life.

Relena looked up to him from where she knelt. "Wufei... You have to do something." Her expression was earnest, her eyes troubled, but her face smooth. Is this what she did all of the time? Kept her feelings at bay so she could set others at ease? His respect for her renewed. At any other of their meetings, he had always viewed her efforts as an unnecessary waste of time. No more...

"I'll help them." And her words, the unspoken ones, were that she put her trust in him to help the baby.

Because he was a Preventer? Did it matter?

Raising his hands, giving it no further thought, he began the slow walk forward.

Whether it was because they were drawn to her, or because they had no where else they could go, the people began gathering around Relena. Everyone was afraid to leave for fear of being shot, but at the same time she could tell they wanted to run. She moved back and forth between each, trying to soothe them with a calm she did not feel, and words that stuck in her throat before she forced them past her lips.

It felt false, unreal, as if it were happening to another person, not herself. This wasn't the first time she had found herself here, but it was the first a life other than her own was in danger. Funny how that lack of control made her more helpless.

He hadn't noticed Wufei's approach yet. The baby did, however, and her little arms reached out for a person she thought was safer than the man who held her. Reaching for a stranger... His jaw hurt from clenching it tightly, and it was more difficult than he had expected to push away the raw flash of emotions that stripped at his insides. This wasn't like any of the other hostage negotiations; normally, Sally handled those because his lack of patience and, yes, admittedly tact made him the least likely candidate for the front man. And never before, had there been children...

"Will he kill her?"

The bald question jerked Relena from where her eyes were trained on Wufei. She regarded the woman before her blankly. There was such trust in her eyes, as if she expected whatever Relena told her to be the absolute truth. Leveled by that, she found she couldn't say anything. Her throat closed off, fear made her muscles lax, weak, and she wanted to give into the mindless terror these people must be feeling. But then, Wufei turned back and his dark, serious eyes caught hers. Bolstered by that one look for reasons she couldn't explain, Relena felt a renewed strength flood through her.

Touching the woman's shoulder, she answered softly, "I don't know. But my friend will do everything he can to make sure that doesn't happen."

And then the woman crumpled into her arms, the force of the strain broken as she related to Relena that the baby was hers.

Wufei didn't know why he looked back. Relena wasn't in any kind of danger, and his attention had to be on what was in front of him. It wasn't because he drew courage from her apparent lack of doubt. Wufei felt no fear. It wasn't because her beauty stood out sharply among everyone around her. Wufei had no use for attraction, especially not in this instance. It wasn't because he needed reassurance. Wufei had complete confidence.

It didn't matter that he had no form of protection, that no sensible person would have gone into this without a lead-lined vest. He didn't see anyone else here ready to volunteer, and the lack elected him the only one capable. Never mind that his chest hurt, or that his heartbeat was abnormally loud. Form a clinical standpoint, he knew this was all normal. Sally, from her limited medical knowledge, while never having made it completely through medical school, had explained the entire process of flight-or-fight to him. In this instance, fighting was the only option he had.

The gun swung up at chest level, and dilated, fixed pupils fastened on him. The breaths were forced from his lungs in great heaves, his nostrils flaring with the effort, as his pale, pasty face with its heavily smudged eyes told Wufei the man was on the edge. He most likely hadn't slept or eaten for days, and there was no way of knowing what would set him off, what would snap the tenuous hold he had on himself, so that possibly everyone close enough to die _would_ until he ran out of bullets.

The pressure was intense. It crushed him, worked to steal his resolve. Anger, annoyance kept it at bay. He had never run from anything in his life, and he would not start now. Not when so many depended on him, and his own life hung in the balance. But as he raised his hands higher, he was ever mindful of the dampness of his shirt under the dark blazer, the blunt press of metal against his hip, and the stifling heat that seemed to come from within.

"Don't move!" He snapped, squeezing the child's arm so that the baby cried out.

"I won't." And to affirm it, Wufei remained still, hands unmoving as he held the man's gaze.

Somehow, he had to get the control away from the man.

In obvious distraction, the man reached up to rub his nose with the barrel of the gun. It spoke of a lack of concentration, and an unfamiliarity with guns. That didn't mean, however, that he would miss should he aim at the child, or himself. Or, Wufei admitted, if the man aimed at him.

"What do you want?" He demanded finally, and Wufei noted how his clothing fairly hung from him.

"My name is Wufei."

The man blinked, caught off guard. "So? What the hell do I care?"

Perspiration clung to the back of his neck, lined his forehead in a fine, transparent sheen. As great a the urge to rub at it was, Wufei ignored it. He couldn't afford to put his hands down. It could be taken as a threat. A rapport needed to be established before he could take any liberties.

"I thought you might like knowing to whom you are speaking," he answered neutrally, wishing the baby wouldn't look at him. He wasn't a savior. He was only one man, and this was a gamble that could easily end in anyone's death.

The man laughed, a harsh, ill-used rasp in the back of his throat. "You speak funny... Like a professor or something. My name is David," and then his eyes narrowed, as if he realized what he had done by giving that away willingly.

Wufei found the gun on him once more as David jerked uncertainly, a nervous habit developed from the lack of care given his body, or if only to keep himself focused. Perhaps even to keep himself awake. He looked as if he were about to drop at any moment. They would not be so blessed, however, Wufei knew.

"David. Why don't you hand me the child? Then we can talk. This isn't about the child. It's about-"

The gun waved in the air, cut him off. "No! The woman already tried that. Stop distracting me. I can't think," here he paused, hitting himself in the forehead with the barrel of his gun. "I haven't slept in... I can't remember when. Ever since my Bethany died." Sorrow twisted his face, lining it, making him look ages older.

Taking a surreptitious breath to steady himself, Wufei held on to his frayed nerves, reigning the temper in, the one that wanted to snatch the gun from the man and render him incapable of thinking ever again.

"Bethany was your daughter?" He tried, after he was certain he could continue sounding impartial.

David nodded. "My Bethany..."

He looked to the subdued child in his arms. Wufei's eyes shifted as well, not liking how silent and lethargic the baby looked, as if she had given up altogether the hope of ever being returned to arms that comforted, not hurt.

"God took her from me. It's not fair. God took her, but he let all the other kids live."

"How will harming this child bring your Bethany back?" The man's expression flattened out, and while Wufei kept using names to draw in his confidence, he was afraid he had said the wrong thing.

"I don't care!" David burst out, shaking the baby, jerking her from her silence so that she whimpered a little.

His hands itched to grab the child and pull her away.

"David. I'm going to lower my hands. Is that all right?"

Waving the gun, his expression once again unfocused and glazed, David nodded. Mindful of his unstable mental status, Wufei did so slowly, his eyes never leaving the man in front of him. His fingers flexed briefly, and he found himself wishing he could use them. This slow, careful method tore at him. He wanted to end it, and quickly.

Squeezing the woman's hand next to her, whose name she had discovered was Melissa, Relena cast an anxious glance to where Wufei and the cause of this stood. She wished there was more she could say to reassure the child's mother, having no real understanding of what the fretful woman must be going through. Aside from vague murmurings of support, however, there was little she _could_ say. She wasn't going to lie, but neither was she going to lay the worst out for Melissa to face. No, she could only sit here, like the rest of them, hoping that Wufei could talk the man down.

It wasn't enough, but it was going to have to be. She was needed here, to keep these people calm while he did something his position had no doubt thrown his way before. At least she hoped. He looked so calm and assured, as if he was not the least bit concerned with the how it would all turn out. She had to admire that, as she was certain the way she felt was written all over her face, no matter how hard she tried to hide it from everyone around her. Panicking wouldn't do her any more good than it would them.

"Miss. Relena..." Someone started to her left. "It's so quiet over there."

She smiled reassuringly at the elder man, reaching out to pat his hand so cold from fear. But she couldn't offer him an answer. She had no way of knowing what the silence meant anymore than he did.

"Do you believe in God?" David asked suddenly, startling Wufei, who had only begun to realize how tight his muscles were, and how much his neck ached from holding it stiffly.

"I don't know." He answered truthfully. Once, he might have believed, but since that time he had seen too much to say for certain. People made their own way, true enough, but a part of him found it hard to believe a loving God would allow things such as this to happen to begin with. Perhaps that was naive, or seeing the world in terms of one color, but anger or refusal didn't make the feelings go away. No more than the troubling ones had with this man had.

David seemed unconcerned with this. "Do you think God has my Bethany?"

What he wanted to do, was snap at the man, call him an ignorant who was asking the wrong questions of the wrong man. Instead, he said, "If God takes anyone, it would be children."

Unbalanced again, David nodded absently. "Bethany was good. She's with God."

The silence. Wufei couldn't stand it any more than he could baby's cries. That had pulled at him, but this filled him with fear. He had heard Sally say people could die from shock. Would he get David to release the baby only to find she had died because it took him too long?

"Dammit," he murmured, before he could stop himself, frustrated. A sharp glance at David, however, told him the other man was too lost within himself to have heard.

"David, do you want this baby to go with God too?" He tried, looking for any way to get the man's focus on letting the baby go.

He blinked owlishly, staring at Wufei in a curious way young children often did.

"With God?" He glanced at the baby. "I'm not going to be with God. I don't believe. I'm a sinner! And Bethany is gone," he lamented, his voice twisting on a sob.

"You haven't done anything wrong, David," Wufei attempted to soothe.

"Yes I have!" David raged, a wild look replacing the vacant one.

"All right. I'm not trying to argue with you, David."

He shook his head. "Quit doing that. Quit calling me by my name. Go away! I want you to go away!"

The hand that held the gun was trembling noticeably now, and Wufei found his gaze drawn there.

It was then that a scream sounded somewhere nearby and a man ran from a door marked with the symbol denoting it as a bathroom. He was talking quickly, his words rushing together, but Wufei could make enough from it that he understood someone was dead.

"See?" David told him morosely. "I told you... I didn't mean to. He wouldn't listen. No one understands."

His tone had taken on a dreamy, detached quality now. Urgency pounded through Wufei like a litany. Someone else was already dead. This man was plenty capable of killing anyone now, there was no longer any denying that. What choice did he have? To stand here and talk circles around him without making any headway? Or to strike and hope that he did it quickly enough to stop the man before he did something else he couldn't take back? It was how he would have handled it. He did everything with force. And it was clear that wasn't enough. For the first time, Wufei felt a different sort of uncertainty, and it was not welcomed.

Relena wanted to let go of the hysterical little laugh the bubbled up into her throat. Someone was dead. She would have thought the war, seeing so much death result from that, would have prepared her more. Yet, this was different. It wasn't a war, just a sick, pathetic man grasping for a reason to live, but struggling to let go of it all. He wasn't harmless any longer. Not that he had been to begin with, only that it seemed as if he wasn't completely serious about hurting anyone, only that he wanted recognition of his pain, someone to listen to how he felt. Now, she knew that had been wrong. She worried for the baby, and she worried for Wufei.

Yet, she pushed it all aside to accept the terror stricken man into their circle of grief, and put all of her energy into calming him down.

"You see?" David whispered.

He had to get the gun. Somehow, he had to get close enough to take the gun away. Now, while David was distracted. So he moved forward carefully, inch by painful inch, hoping that he wouldn't be noticed. His luck wasn't holding, however. David caught on to what he was doing, and flung the gun back up, his expression suddenly sharp.

"Don't. I'll kill you."

The words tore through Relena, rang out clearly in the space dividing them.

Falling completely still, Wufei tensed. Helplessness ate away at him. Was this what Sally went through? Was it worth it to her, to risk her life to save a person not worth saving? He had never asked. His focus had always been on the end result, not on how she felt after it was over. Interesting, that he would think of this now, that he would have an insight he didn't care for. Amazing what you considered when it was possible you could die.

"David, it isn't time for the child to be with God yet," he choked out, finding it ridiculous to speak of God when he had no connection with the one this man claimed to follow.

David smiled suddenly. A vacant, gaunt smile filled with nothingness.

"I'm tired."

Sighing a little, as if the fight had drained out of him, taking with it the resolve that had been holding him together, he let the baby drop onto his hip.

Wufei's pulse jumped. "David-"

"I'm tired."

From where she sat, Relena froze. Was he going to shoot the baby?

Tense, Wufei felt his muscles bunching, waiting to be used if he needed to move quickly. David only extended his arm, however, the baby with it, and motioned for Wufei to take her. Alarmed by this, because it wasn't at all what he had expected, Wufei still wasted no time darting in and snatching the baby. The small child curled into him, wrapping her thin arms around his neck and clinging. The feeling jolted him, it was so unlike anything he had ever experienced before. But he tucked it away to explore later, because this wasn't over.

"Thank you, David. Can I please have the gun now?" It had never occurred to him that using formality, being polite, could feel so wrong. Every part of him raged now that he had the baby, to dress the man down. It was only sheer will and effort, all that seemed to be holding him together anymore, that kept him from doing it. That, and what was at risk here.

Shaking his head, David smiled abjectly. It was spiritless, devoid of everything, as if he were already gone. As if he were already gone...

Realization snapped through him. "David-" And before he could finish, or move, the gun shifted.

A shot rang out, clear and definitive; the baby cried, resounding and deafening in his ear; and the world tilted out of focus, as he wavered and fell.

[pilot03]

very good story. I read it once on www.yaoijanai.com and I couldnt help but to read it again. Great work!!