Thea sat in front of the vid-phone with Blitz on her left and Ara to her right. They were explaining the situation to Sally.
"Well," Sally said, pausing to contemplate what could be done, "I’m still on speaking terms with Une."
"Whatever happened to Wufei?" Blitz asked.
Sally shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Don’t get me started on that asshole."
"I take it that relationship was short-lived." Ara masked a smirk.
"Ya think?" Sally retorted. She looked at Ara and cocked an eyebrow. "Who are you?"
"Ara Malloy; Bounty Hunter."
"She’s reinforcements." Blitz explained. Sally was apparently satisfied with it and went back to the original topic.
"I’ll see what I can get Une to do for you. Not promising anything, but I’ll do my best. Later."
"And Sally," Thea started before she hung up.
"Yeah?"
"Tell her to keep quiet about it. We don’t need all of the Preventers in on this, and we sure as hell don’t need it publicized."
"Got it. Good luck." Sally smiled and the screen went blank.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
A day had passed since they had talked to Sally when the vid-phone rang again. Thea answered it. Wufei’s image appeared on the screen. He didn’t look happy to see her.
"Good morning Wufei. How ya been?" She asked with a smug smile.
"Wipe that look off your face onna." Thea continued to smile. "I was instructed by Une to call this number and receive a mission."
"Well, you’ve come to the right place." Her smile broadened. "We have a problem and you’re gonna help us."
"Wufei Chang does not help bounty hunters."
"First time for everything Wu-man." She answered while pressing a few buttons. A file full of information appeared on Wufei’s screen. "First things first." Thea brought up a picture of Noelani. "This is Noelani O’Brien. She’s trying to take over the world, here’s her back round info." She pressed another button. " You can read it on your own. This is her acquired military. Sources say it’s around 50 thousand men and women, a small legion of Serpent Mobil suits, and enough fire power to blow this solar system to hell."
Wufei’s image returned to the screen. He was somewhere between angry and worried and his face showed it. "What is this world coming to? A woman thinking she can just come in and take over." Thea smiled again
"Oh, it gets better."
He eyed her suspiciously before replying. "How?"
"Guess who’s training her troops."
"I despise guessing games."
"I’ll give you a hint; He’s tall, blonde, and one of your favorite people." There was a sort of sing-song sarcasm in her voice.
A scowl appeared on Wufei’s face. "Merquise."
"See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?" His scowl continued. "How many Preventers did Une give us?"
"Just me."
Thea’s smile faded immediately. "You’re kidding right?"
"Onna! Do I look like I’m kidding?"
A low pitched ‘shit’ was issued from her lips. "Alright. Where are you?"
"I just got done with a mission. I’m out in the L4 area."
"How long will it take you to get back to Earth?"
"I’ve still got business to tend to. Some of us have a real job. It’ll take me at least a week and a half."
Thea decided to ignore the arrogance in his voice. "Well move your ass! We have a problem on our hands. Shave as much time as you can off your ‘business’ and get here." She pressed another button and Wufei was sent an address. " If you’re not here in a week and a half, we’ll find you."
Wufei was about to protest when Thea cut the transmission.
*********************************************************************************
Ara wandered through a hall of the large home for the eighth time that night. It had been a week since her conversation with her past and she was suffering from a large bout of insomnia. (But what else was new?) She had neither slept nor ate and couldn’t, even when offered her favorite foods. Blitz had seen her eyeing the Baby Grand piano that sat in the living room with a distance in her expression. Duo had asked her what was up a few days ago. She shrugged, pretending not to know that Zechs had been an excellent piano player. It was best that he, being the persistent one when it came to cheering people up, just stay out of her way. Blood is hard to get out of carpeting. (AN: Ya know. Just FYI. ;)
It was well after midnight as she sat at the piano. Ara couldn’t remember the last time she had played, and somehow she didn’t really care. For a long moment she simply looked at the keys. Before she noticed, her hands moved and began to play Moonlight Sonata. (AN: By Beethoven, for anyone who doesn’t know) She closed her eyes and let the rhythm move within her. As she hit the last note, tears that she had been holding all that week were streaming down her face. Ara failed to notice the figure at the door.
Thea watched her play with a slight smile on her face. When she started to cry she moved from her place to comfort her old friend. She placed a hand on Ara’s shoulder, causing her to jump.
"You’re to hard on yourself." Thea told her sitting down on the bench. "It really isn’t your fault." Ara roughly wiped the tears from her face. No one had ever really seen her cry and she’d be damned if she would start now.
"Then why does it hurt so much?"
"Because you wont let yourself grieve." Thea answered giving her a slight shake. "You can’t just get over anyone in an instant. Not even you. Especially Zechs." Ara looked at her quizzically. "What? Have you looked at him? A machine, without any physical/emotional attachment to him, couldn’t do it in one night."
That earned Thea a small chuckle. "He is pretty good lookin’ isn’t he?"
"Yeah." She answered with a nod of her head. "I mean he’s no Christian Bale, but…" Ara shook her head and sighed inwardly at her friend’s antics. "You just gotta give yourself some time. You gotta move on. There’s other fish in the sea."
"I know. But I wanted *that* fish, ya know? He was like, that fish that some old guy would brag about to his fishin’ buddies for years to come. Even after they would start rolling their eyes at him when he started the story for the eight-millionth time. He was the one to tell the grandkids about and…" Ara put her face in her hands. "See there? I’m not even making sense anymore."
"When have you ever made sense?"
"That’s not the point." Ara started. "It’s the principle of the thing." They finished unanimously. Thea laughed lightly. "Go to sleep woman." She shook her friend one last time before rising to go back to bed. Before she left the room, she turned back to Ara, who was still sitting at the piano. "And remember, it’s ok to cry." With that, she slipped through the door.
"If only it were that easy." Ara thought aloud. She turned back toward the piano keys.
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